Kurdish Jews (יהדות כורדיסתאן "Jews of Kurdistan", Standard Hebrew Yehudi Kurdistan) are the ancient Jewish communities inhabiting the region today known as Kurdistan, roughly covering parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, and Syria. The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי transliterated: Yehudi) is used in many ways, but generally refers to a follower of Judaism, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ... Kurdish-inhabited areas (Kurdistan). ...

One of the world's earliest female rabbis was a Kurdish Jew. Their garb and culture is similar to neighbouring Muslim Kurds. Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished,. In the ancient Judean schools the sages were addressed as רִבִּי (Ribbi or Rebbi... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is an adherent of Islam. ...

There is some evidence of very old bonds between Jewish People and Kurds. The illustrious Kurdish royal house of Adiabene, with Arbil (Hewlêr in Kurdish) as its capital, was converted to Judaism in the course of the 1st century BC, along with, it appears, a large number of Kurdish citizens in the kingdom (see Irbil/Arbil in Encyclopaedia Judaica). The name of the Kurdish king Monobazes (related etymologically to the name of the ancient Mannaeans), his queen Helena, and his son and successor Izates (derived from yazata, "angel"), are preserved as the first proselytes of this royal house. (See "Brauer E., The Jews of Kurdistan, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1993" ,"Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 5th cd. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1968,VI.412" and [1]). The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or a member of the Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Adiabene (In Syriac: ܚܕܝܐܒ) was an ancient Assyrian kingdom in Mesopotamia with its capital at Arbela. ... Arbil (Arabic: , arbÄ«l; also written Erbil or Irbil), or Hewlêr (Kurdish), is one of the large cities in Iraq. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Arbil. ... The Kurdish languages or Kurdish dialects, belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, are spoken in the region loosely called Kurdistan including Kurdish populations in parts of Iran (Persia), Iraq, Syria and Turkey. ... Encyclopedia Judaica is an eighteen-volume encyclopedia focused on the Jewish people and their faith, known as Judaism. ...

Rabbi Asenath Barzani,who lived in Mosul, Kurdistan, from 1590 to 1670 was among the very first Jewish women to become a Rabbi. She was the daughter of the illustrious Rabbi Samuel Barzani. Until the modern era, very few women were given the title of "Rabbi". But sometimes a woman’s wisdom and learning were so exceptional that this title was given to her.(See [2]). Also see: Yona Sabar, The Folk Literature of the Kurdistani Jews (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982. The tombs of Biblical prophets like Nahum in Alikush, Jonah in Nabi Yunis (ancient Nineveh), Daniel in Kirkuk, Habakkuk in Tuisirkan, and Queen Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, and several caves reportedly visited by Elijah are among the most important Jewish shrines in Kurdistan and are venerated by all Jews today.[3]. The Jews of Kurdistan lived—until their immigration to Israel in the early 1950s—as a closed ethnic isolate, mostly in northern Iraq and Iran and in eastern Turkey. According to an old tradition, the Jews of Kurdistan are descendents of the Ten Tribes from the time of the Assyrian exile in 723 B.C. (Roth C, Encyclopedia Judaica. Keter, Jerusalem, pp 1296–1299,1972). Mustafa Barzani (March 14, 1903–March 1, 1979) was a Kurdish nationalist leader and President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). ... MosÅ«l (36°22′ N 43°07′ E Arabic: al-Mawsil, Kurdish: Mûsil, or Nineveh, Assyrian: ܢܝܢܘܐ, Ninewa) is a city in northern Iraq. ... Kirkuk (Kurdish: Kerkûk, Arabic:كركوك ;originally the Assyrian city of Arrapha) is an ancient city in Iraq, sitting near the Hasa River on the ruins of a 5,000-year-old settlement. ... Ganj nameh, Darius the Great inscriptions (5th century BC) This page is about the city of Hamedan. ...

See also

• Jewish ethnic divisions
• Mizrahi Jews
• Iraqi Jews
• Persian Jews
• Kurds

The Jewish world includes a number of distinct communities that might be referred to as Jewish ethnic divisions. ... Jews, sometimes also called Oriental Jews, (מזרחי eastern, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ; plural מזרחים easterners, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ) are Jews whose ancestors resided in communities which were in continuous contact with the rest of the Jewish world, yet were neither Ashkenazi Jews nor Sephardi Jews. ... Iraqi Jews constitute one of the worlds oldest, and historically most important Jewish communities. ... Persian Jews, or Iranian Jews, are a group of ancient Jewish communities living throughout the former greatest extents of the Persian Empire. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ...

External links

• Kurdish Jewry (יהדות כורדיסתאן) An Israeli site on Kurdish Jewry. (in Hebrew)