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Benjamin of Tudela
tells us about David Alroi, the messianic leader
from central Kurdistan, who fought against the king
of Persia and planed to lead the Jews back to
Jerusalem. The Jewish people who lived in Mosul were
wealthy and Mosul was the commercial and spiritual
center of Kurdistan. The Jews of Mosul were able to
manage their own community (3, 4, 5 & 6).
The most significant Jewish shrines in Kurdistan are
the tombs of Biblical prophets, like Nahum in
Alikush, Jonah in Nabi Yunis (ancient Nineveh), and
Daniel in Kirkuk. All are respected by Jews people
everywhere (3, 4, 5 & 6).
Kurdish Jews have been very active in Israeli
movement. One of the most known and famous person of
Lehi, was one of the Freedom Fighters of Israel was
Moshe Barazani, whose family immigrated from Iraqi
Kurdistan and stayed in Jerusalem in the late 1920s,
(3,4, 5 & 6).
Asenath Barzani
Asenath Barzani (1590–1670) was a well-known Kurdish
Jewish woman who lived in Mousl, Iraq. Asenath was
among the very first Jewish lady in history renowned
to have been given a rabbinic title. She studied
Kabbalah. Her ancestors were Kurdish (1 & 2). She
was given the title of Tanna’it, after Barzani died;
many Jews visited her grave in Amadiyah in Iraqi
Kurdistan. Asenath was the daughter of Rabbi Samuel
Barzani, who headed many yeshivas in his life. He
was a master of Kabbalah, and he taught the secrets
of Kabbalah to his daughter, who venerated her
father, whom she regarded as a King of Israel. When
Rabbi Samuel Barzani died, Asenath took over many of
his responsibilities. Asenath was not just a rabbi,
but she was the head of the yeshivah of Mosul, and
finally became known as the leading teacher of Torah
in Kurdistan (1 & 2). She married Jacob Mizrahi
Rabbi of Amadiyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, who lectured
at a yeshiva. She was well known for her knowledge
of the Torah, Talmud, Kabbalah and Jewish law. After
her husband died, she was in charge of the yeshiva
at Amadiyah, and finally became the chief instructor
of Torah in Kurdistan. She was called tanna'it
(female Talmudic scholar), practiced mysticism, and
was reputed to have known the secret names of God,
(1 & 2).
Tanna ‘it Barzani, was a poet and an expert on
Jewish literature, and there are many Kurdish myths
about the miracles that she performed, such as the
one mentioned in “A Flock of Angels”. She is also
well known for her poetry and excellent command of
the Hebrew language. She wrote a long poem of lament
and petition in the traditional rhymed metrical
form. The poems are among the few examples of the
early Modern Hebrew texts written by women (1 & 2).
When Rabbi Samuel died, later on he often came to
his daughter in her dreams. He would disclose
dangers to her and tell her what to do, and she
saved many lives. On one occasion, encouraged by her
father, the Jews of Amadiyah were celebrating Rosh
Hodesh in the open air; even it was dangers to do
that. As they started to celebrate, they saw flames
shoot up into the sky. The synagogue was set on
fire. Tanna’it Asenath whispered a secret name. The
people saw a flock of angels coming down to the roof
of the synagogue. The angels strike the flames with
their wings,www.ekurd.netuntil
the last flame put out. Then they rose up into the
heavens like a flock of white pigeon and were gone.
After the smoke unfurnished, they saw another
miracle which the synagogue wasn’t burned; even a
single letter of the Torahs was not touched by the
flames. They were so appreciative to Tanna’it
Asenath then they called the synagogue after her,
and it still stands to present day (1 & 2).
Ofra Bengio is a senior lecturer in the Department
of Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University.
She told the Rudaw that “Israel has no clear policy
towards the Kurds and that the Kurdish government
fears for an Arabic backlash, iiiiiif they establish
clear relations with Israel” (7). She said that
there are certain ties between Israel and the Kurds
but these relations are not direct according to some
sources. In fact certain business existed even under
Saddam Hussein, who benefited from certain supplies
coming from Israel but which did not label with the
name of Israel (7).
The Kurds themselves are not sure about these kinds
of relations, because Jerusalem does not want to
irritate Turkey (7). These two great nations are not
Arabs and see eye to eye on certain things. The
Kurds of Iraq may take the Israeli experience as a
model. Israelis on the other hand have great
compassion with the sufferings of the Kurds which
were mistreated by the regimes in Iraq.
I want to tell you that Turkey has established its
relations with Israel and the Palestinians; on the
other hand Israel can have relations with Turkey and
the Kurdish Regional Government. In reality the KRG
is unwilling to have such relations because of fear
of the reaction of the Arab world and particularly
Arabs of Iraq. The Kurdish movement appears to be in
a better shape now than any time in the past. The
Kurdish experiment in Iraq is quite successful and
the Kurds of Turkey are also gaining more rights
(7).
An ancient folklore and belief relate that the Jews
of Kurdistan are the descendants of the Ten Tribes
from the time of the Assyrian exile (6th centuryBCE).
Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela who mentioned, in the 12th
century who visited Kurdistan in about 1170 and
found Jewish who still used Aramaic. Benjamin, who
visited Kurdistan in 1848, also mentioned this
ancient tradition and said the Nestorian (Assyrian)
tribes were descendants of the Ten Tribes as well.
During the Second Temple era, the kingdom of
Abiabene was located in this district; its
residents, together with their king, Monobaz, and
his mother Helena, changed to Judaism in the middle
of the 1st century, and it is possible that some
Kurdish Jews today are descendants of these
proselytes. (8 & 9).
The economic situation of Jews in Kurdistan was hard
and their living conditions were extremely in
stable. The Jewish that lived in the cities were
involved in commerce and crafts, but the Jewish
people who lived in the mountains were occupied in
farming. Their religious life was centred in the
synagogue and Talmud Torah in another word religious
school. Like the Nestorians in the region, who used
an Aramaic language with Turkish, Persian, Kurdish,
Arabic and Hebrew words, which they called “the
language of the Targum” (the Aramaic translation of
the Bible) and those Kurdish Jews stayed in the
mountains continued to use Aramaic (8 & 9).
Immigration started from Kurdistan to the Land of
Israel in the 16th century, and settled in Safed. In
the 20th century, Kurdish immigrants arrived in the
1920s and 30s and by 1948 there were some 8,000
Kurds in Israel. The State of Israel in 1948
airlifted all the Jews in Kurdistan to the new state
in 1950-51, this great operation known as “Magic
Carpet.” (8 & 9).
There are over 150,000 Kurdish Jewish live in Israel
at present, with the largest concentration in and
around Jerusalem. Many Kurdish Jews have achieved
high positions in the army and the other positions
such as the former Minister of Defence, Yitzhak
Mordechai (8 & 9).
Kurdish Jews brought Aramaic with them from
Kurdistan to Israel, and it is still spoken at home
by the older generation. They also regard it as
evidence of their being descendants of the "Ten Lost
Tribes" who were deported by the Assyrians a century
before the two remaining tribes of Judea were
excluded by the Babylonians (10).
The head of the National Organization of Kurdish
Jews in Israel, Avraham Simantov, interviewed in his
Jerusalem office, said he takes pride in the fact
that Kurdish Jewish "preserved the language of the
Targum," he referred to the monumental translation
of the Torah into Aramaic, which is known as (Targum
Onkelos) (10).
They are not the same as the Jerusalem Kurdish Jews,
who speak Aramaic at home, and Hebrew outside, their
fellow Kurdish Jewish, who settled in other parts of
the country use Aramaic in all aspects of their
lives. He referred to a book which published 14
years ago in Cairo by Izzat Zaki, in that book was
mentioned that the (Nestorian Christians) count
themselves as "the children of Israel" and declared
that they are the remainder of the Ten Lost Tribes.
Zaki argued that they do not marry outside their
religious belief and reside in the most defensible
range mountainous regions of Kurdistan. Zaki said
that they “use Aramaic just like the Jews." (10).
Abouna Yusuf found that until a century ago, there
were many villages existed in Syria and were
speaking Aramaic language. Now three villages are
left, and they are close to Damascus. The Syrian
authorities tried to isolate them from the
foreigners, especially foreign media. He said that
the Syriac with Aramaic in reality is different
dialect, but he acknowledged that, "I am very proud
to be able to speak the same language in which Jesus
Christ spoke." (10).
Aramaic was the language of the ancient Arameans,
3,000 years ago, as the nation that lived in the
Bible's Padan-Aram and the Patriarch Abraham's Aram
Naharayim. It is also the Palestinian Aramaic 2,000
years ago, was broadly used by the Jews of the Holy
Land of Israel (10).
Judean or Palestinian Aramaic was the main language
among the Holy Land's Christians until the 16th
century, it was a similar case in Syria, Iraq and
Iran, where the descendants of the original Arameans
and the successive Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian
ethnic groups had transformed to Christianity and
accepted the northwestern Mesopotamian dialect of
Aramaic, which is known as Syriac (10).
(11).
A new book was written by Kurdish-American
journalist Ariel Sabar:
and he talks about the story of his father Yona, who
grew up in 1940s Zakho, in a small city in Iraqi
Kurdistan (South of Kurdistan), where Jews, Muslims,
and Christians assorted reasonably seamlessly (11) .
A Jews like Yona Sabar "went to work, prayed to a
Jewish God, and spoke their own language without
major disruption" just as they had "without major
disruption for some twenty-seven hundred years"
(11).
He said one-third of Baghdad was Jewish after World
War I, After World War II, Jews served in the Iraqi
cabinet, its Parliament, and in High Court of Appeal
(11). The well-known Iraqi Jews were put to death
and others were jailed and tormented for association
with Israel and a shared religion (11).
Yona Sabar was 12 years old when his family left
Kurdistan and went to Israel. Generally Yona’s
family was in a better position financially in Iraqi
Kurdistan, but they were forced to cram into a small
unit in Jerusalem. His family had businesses in
Iraqi Kurdistan but they were forced into unskilled
labour. He claimed that his family faced
discrimination because they were Kurdish (11).
Where he would become a leading scholar of Aramaic,
the language he spoke growing up in Zakho. (11).
Finally, Yona moved to California, he worked there
for three decades as a professor in the Department
of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the
University of California, Los Angeles (11). In "My
Father's Paradise" the whole journey is told with
moving kindness and a legendary style. The father
and son, made a journey to Kurdistan in 2005 -
Ariel's first ever and Yona's second since fleeing
the country in 2005. When Ariel returned again tried
to dig up more family details in about the nature of
ancestry in 2006 (11).
Yona Sabar was contacted from Los Angeles, and told
IPS the 2005 tour back to Kurdistan persuaded him
the world of his youth is lost forever.
Yona Sabar told me he likes the title of "My
Father's Paradise" book even though he now sees the
dreams of the past as homesickness more than
anything else. "Paradise," he said, "is where we put
all our dreams, all our wishes, where we feel most
spiritually fulfilled, that's what a paradise is”
(11).
Speaking of his trip from Kurdistan to Israel to the
United States, Yona Sabar said "When I was in one
place, I was always thinking of the previous place,
idealising it. Now I realise that is just a fantasy.
I'm very happy right here" (11).
His son Ariel said he can see that his father still
looks for tiny bits of Kurdistan every day even as
he lives in Los Angeles. "These parallels sometimes
strike me as fanciful, even laughable," the younger
Sabar wrote. "But I have come to see how real they
are for him, how necessary for a man displaced"
(11).
Nebel, found in genetic research in 2001 there is a
possible ancient bond between Jews and Kurds. A team
of scientists have revealed that three Jewish
communities of Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Kurdish Jews
amazingly shared extra haplotypes and chromosomes
with Muslim Kurds than with either Palestinians or
Bedouins (12).
Nebel judged against three Jewish and three
non-Jewish groups from the Middle East: Ashkenazim,
Sephardim, and Kurdish Jews from Israel; Muslim
Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian Authority
Area; Bedouin from the Negev; and Kurds. They ended
up that Sephardim and Kurdish Jews were genetically
the same, but that both were a little dissimilar
from Ashkenazim, mostly related to the Kurds (12).
Nebel in this study (2000) found a higher genetic
relationship between Jews with the Iraqi Kurds (12).
Fascinatingly, Nebel et al in (2001) found extra
features in the research such as the Cohen Modal
Haplotype, measured the most perfect Jewish
haplotype, was discovered among 10.1% of Kurdish
Jews, 7.6% of Ashkenazim, 6.4% of Sephardim, 2.1% of
Palestinian Arabs, and 1.1% of Kurds (12).
At the end, I want to say that the Kurdish Jews are
the ancient Jewish live in all parts of Kurdistan.
An ancient folklore and belief related that the Jews
of Kurdistan are the descendants of the Ten
Tribes.There are many well-known Kurdish Jewish in
the past and now such as, Asenath Barzani a Kurdish
Jewish woman who lived in Mousl, Iraq. Many Kurdish
Jews have achieved high rank in the army and the
other positions such as the former Minister of
Defence, Mr. Yitzhak Mordechai (8 & 9).
Kurdish Jews brought Aramaic with them from
Kurdistan to Israel. Abouna Yusuf found that until
last century, there were many Jewish villages
survived in Syria and were speaking Aramaic
language, but now only three villages are left, and
they are near Damascus. The Syrian authorities
always tried to separate the Jewish people and their
villages from the foreign media.
Ofra Bengio is a senior lecturer at Tel Aviv
University. She told the Rudaw that “Israel has no
clear policy towards the Kurds and that the Kurdish
government fears for an Arabic backlash, iiiiiif
they establish clear relations with Israel” I
want to say, its shame on both Israeli and the
Kurdish Regional Government which had such a strong
bond in the past and now they are scared from their
enemies in order to build their relationships, and
to establish a strong economy and political
structures for their countries. I believe after all
the tragedies that the Kurds and the Jewish people
have seen in the hands of Arab Muslims for many
centuries; they should learn a lesson from the
history, and the mistakes of the past. They need to
be united and strong against their enemies in the
Middle East. Because all the wars that the Kurds and
the Jewish have seen for many centuries did not come
from the sky,www.ekurd.netand
its very obvious that who fought against them, and
wanted to wipe them off from their homelands and to
genocide them and to occupy the Holly Lands of
Kurdistan and Israel. The Kurdish Regional
Government needs to open its office in the capital
of Israel and Israeli Government as well to open its
Embassy in Erbil the capital of Kurdistan, the old
Kurdish Jewish city 2000 years a go.
I want to say so many Arabic countries have
relationships with Israel for instance Dubai, Arabi
Saudi, Egypt, Jordan and even the Arabic Republic of
Syria under the leadership of the dictator Asad, and
even they account, that Israel is their first enemy,
and call them (Kilab Yehood), Jewish dogs. But in
our case Israel is our friend, and we have no
problems whatsoever, and we have a very old bonds
with the Jewish, and Kurdistan is the homeland for
so many Kurdish Jewish, so that’s why we have to
support them.
Why do we have to support our enemy, and turn blind
eye on our close friend, and our people in Israel?
This is absolutely a very wrong policy the Kurds,
and the Israeli have taken and it should be
demolished and be avoided such a policy like that,
because it’s against our national interest. I want
to ask the Kurdish leaders the following questions.
Which country has sent an expired food and
explosions to Kurdistan, Israel or our brothers from
the Islamic and Arabic countries? Who genocide
182,000 Kurds and used chemical weapons? Who has
sent the Kurdish girls forcibly during the Anfal
campaign, to Egypt to work in clubs as prostitutes?
Which Arabic country supported the Kurdish
revolution from 1961-1975, except Israel, under the
leadership of Mustafa Barzani? Barzani was one of
the greatest and hero leaders of the twentieth
century, who led the Kurdish revolution during the
most difficult time. I want to ask the Israeli
Government this question, who genocide the Jewish
people during the prophet Muhammad? Our
relationships go beyond historical relations and go
even further into genetic relations between these
two great nations. For example Nebel, found in
genetic research in 2001 there is a possible ancient
bond between Jews and Kurds.
“The younger Sabar wrote in his book that.” I have
come to see how real they are for my father, how
necessary for a man displaced" (11).
Bibliography
1. Asenath, Barzani, "Asenath's Petition", First
published in Hebrew by Jacob Mann, ed., in Texts and
Studies in Jewish History and Literature, vol.1,
Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinnati, 1931.
Translation by Peter Cole.
2. Mahir Ünsal Eriş, Kürt Yahudileri - Din, Dil,
Tarih, (Kurdish Jews) In
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asenath_Barzani"
3. Mordechai Zaken, 2007, "Jewish Subjects and their
tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan: A study in
Survival," Jewish Identities in a Changing World, 9,
Boston: Brill Publishers.
4. Yona Sabar, The Folk Literature of the Kurdistan
Jews (New Haven: Yale
retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_Jews"
5. Asenath, Barzani, "Asenath's Petition", First
published in Hebrew by Jacob Mann, ed., in Texts and
Studies in Jewish History and Literature, vol.1,
Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinnati, 1931.
Translation by Peter Cole.
6. The Jews of Kurdistan, Yale Israel Journal, No. 6
(Spr. 2005).
7. Ofra Bengio, 20.07.2009, Israel has no clear
Kurdish policy: www.ekurd.net
8. Kurdish Jewish Community in Israel
9. www.jcjcr.org
10. Jay BUSHINSKY The passion of Aramaic-Kurdish
Jews brought Aramaic to Israel 15.4.2005 by
www.jpost.com -
11. Books-Iraq: Aaron Glantz, Kurdish Jews Recall a
Paradise Lost, 2008.
12. Nebel, 2001, Connection with the Jewish people.
Dana Berzinjy,
a freelance writer,
Sydney/Australia,
December 10, 2009,
exclusively for eKURD.NET
©
All Rights Reserved. You may reach the author via
email at: danaberzinjy (at) ekurd.net or dara_dar
(at) yahoo.com.au
Copyright © 2009 ekurd.net. All rights reserved
-
Articles by Dana Berzinjy
-
The 22nd
Anniversary of the Bombardment of the City of
Halabja!
10.4.2010
-
What Symbol
Does Represent the People that live in Iraqi
Kurdistan? 14.2.2010
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The
Historical Relations between the Kurds and the
Jewish! 10.12.2009
-
The
Kurds and the Israelis have no friends in the
Middle East! 16.10.2009
-
Genocide of
the Kurdish Language, Forcibly by the Turkish
Government has violated the Turkish and the
United Nations Laws. Part 3. 6.7.2009
-
Kurdish
Tragedy in North of Kurdistan. Based on a True
Story 25.5.2009
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Democracy in
the Middle East Especially in the Kurdish Regions!
8.8.2008
-
Reply to a
Dishonorable Degree, which was written by Nergiz
Duhoki 2.6.2008
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The Turkish and
the US Governments, Share crimes, Atrocities and
Genocide that were Committed Against the Kurdish
People in Turkey in 1990, and at present. PART 2,
By Dana Berzinjy 3.5.2008
-
Call For
Economic Boycott of the Turkish Products and Think
Twice Before You Buy it. 27.3.2008
-
The Turkish and
the US Governments, Share crimes, Atrocities and
Genocide that were Committed Against the Kurdish
People in Turkey in 1990, and at present. PART 1,
By Dana Berzinjy 17.2.2008
-
National
Kurdish anthem should have been played first, not
the Quran in the ceremony which mourns victims of
Anfal 15.1.2008
-
What Right Does
the Turkish Parliament have To Send Its Own Army,
to Shell...By Dana Berzinjy 29.10.2007
-
The Conspiracy
Agreement Made Between The Iraqi And Turkish
Internal Ministers... 1.10.2007
-
Why the US does
not support an Independent Kurdish State, but
Supports the establishment of the Palestinian
state 29.8.2007
-
The Turkish
Government Occupies The Kurdish Homeland in
Southeastern Turkey 23.7.2007
About the Author:
Master in TESOL from University of Western Sydney in
1995. Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary)
Faculty of Education {University of Western Sydney macarthur} 2001-2002. Postgraduate Diploma in Adult
Education (Teaching English of Speakers Other
Languages) Faculty of Education {University of
Western Sydney macarthur} 1999-2001. Postgraduate
Diploma in Business ( Employment Relations Law)
Faculty of Business ( University of Technology
Sydney) 1997-1999. Bachelor of Business (Commerce
and Human Resource management) ( Southern Cross
University) 1992-1996 Lismore.
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