History of Jews in Kurdistan

Kurdish Jews or Kurdistan Jews (Hebrew יהדות כורדיסתאן; Yehudot Kurdistan, Kurdish Kurds Cihu ) are those Jews called that since time immemorial live in the area of Kurdistan. Their culture and clothing style is similar to those of the Muslim Kurds. Up to the mass emigration in the 1940s and 50s to Israel they lived closed and isolated in itself. The Kurdish Jews are a part of the Mizrahi. Focus of their settlements were today's northern Iraq and western Iran. In addition, Kurdish Jews also lived in present-day southern and southeastern Anatolia.

History

According to their tradition, the first Jews settled after the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BC in the Assyrian capital, which was in the present territory of Kurdistan, to. In the 1st century BC chose the kingdom of Adiabene, whose capital is the present Arbil, Judaism as a religion. According to the reports of the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela and Pethahiah of Regensburg in the 12th century there were about 100 Jewish settlements in Kurdistan. Benjamin of Tudela mentioned a messianic leader named David Alroi, who rebelled against the Persian king and wanted to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem. After the trip reports, the spiritual and economic center of the Kurdish Jews was the city of Mosul. Later settled Jewish refugees from Syria and Palestine, who fled before the Crusades, in Kurdistan and Babylon. The Jews of Mosul enjoyed a certain autonomy at the time.

Between 1590 and 1670 the Rabbi Asenath Barzani, who taught the Torah, the Talmud and the Kabbalah lived. As the first woman she headed a yeshiva. She received the title Tanna'it. Asenath Barzani was also known for her poetry and works on the Hebrew language. Her work is also important because it is the first poems of a woman in modern Hebrew.

The most important Jewish sites in Kurdistan are the tombs of the prophets Nahum in Alqosh, Jonah at Nineveh, and Daniel in Kirkuk. Moreover, these include several caves that were supposedly visited by Elijah.

Kurdish Jews were also active in the Zionist movement. So was Moses Barazani, who emigrated with his family in the 1920s to Jerusalem, to the leaders of underground organization Lehi.

Name

In addition to acquired from neighboring cultures names and general popular Hebrew names there are also specific Hebrew names that occur frequently among the Kurdish Jews. This includes for example the name Binydme because all the Jews of the region as the descendants of the tribe of Benjamin. In addition, the names of the saints whose shrines and tombs are located in the region, widespread. This includes Nahum, whose grave is visited by thousands every year in Alqosh. Other names are Jonah, Nahum, Mordecai and Esther.

Language

The Kurdish Jews speak a Neuaramäische language with several dialects, which are named after their settlement areas:

  • Urmiyah ( Lishan Didan ) ( 4,000 speakers)
  • Sanandaj - Kerend ( Hulaula ) (10,000 speakers)
  • Zachu - Armadiyah ( Lishana Deni ) (8,000 speakers)
  • Arbil Koi Sanjaq ( Lishanid Noshan ) (2,000 speakers)
  • Bijil ( Lishanid Janan, Barzani ) (nearly extinct)

Since most of the Kurdish Jews from Iraq now living in Israel, their dialects are there replaced by the official language and the surrounding languages. In addition to the Aramaic they speak Kurdish.

Representative

Rowanduz Book of Esther Erbil Book of Jonah Lehi (group) Encyclopaedia Judaica
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