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Kurdish Jews in Israel

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Jewish ethnic subdivision

Ethnic group
Kurdish Jews in Israel
Total population
 Israel 150,000 - 300,000
Regions with significant populations
Mainly Jerusalem, also Tel Aviv and many other places.
Languages
Hebrew (Main language for all generations);
Older generation: Kurdish, Persian, Judeo-Aramaic
Religion
Judaism
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Kurdish history and Kurdish culture
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Kurdish Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Kurdish Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. They number between 150,000 and 300,000.

Kurds are an Iranic ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.

History

Immigration of Kurdish Jews to the Land of Israel initiated during the late 16th century, with a community of rabbinic scholars arriving to Safed, Galilee, and a Kurdish Jewish quarter had been established there as a result. The thriving period of Safed however ended in 1660, with Druze power struggles in the region and an economic decline.

Many Kurdish Jews, especially the ones who hail from Iraq, went through a Sephardic Jewish blending during the 18th century.

Since the early 20th century, some Kurdish Jews had been active in the Zionist movement. One of the most famous members of Lehi (Freedom Fighters of Israel) was Moshe Barazani, whose family immigrated from Iraq and settled in Jerusalem in the late 1920s. In 1939, there were 4,369 in Jerusalem, growing to 30,000 in 1972.

The vast majority of Kurdish Jews were forced out by Iraqi authorities, being evacuated to Israel in the early 1950s, together with other Iraqi Jewish community. The vast majority of the Kurdish Jews of Iranian Kurdistan relocated mostly to Israel as well, in the 1950s.

The Times of Israel reported on September 30, 2013: "Today, there are almost 200,000 Kurdish Jews in Israel, about half of whom live in Jerusalem. There are also over 30 agricultural villages throughout the country that were founded by Kurdish Jews." Today, the large majority of the Jews of Kurdistan and their descendants live in Israel.

Settlements

Notable people

See also

References

  1. "Kurdish Jewish Community in Israel". Jcjcr.org. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  2. Berman, Lazar (September 30, 2013). "Cultural pride, and unlikely guests, at Kurdish Jewish festival". timesofisrael.com.
  3. "Inside the Unlikely, Unofficial Ties Between Israel and the Kurds". Haaretz.
  4. "Kurdish Jewish Community in Israel". Jcjcr.org. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  5. Berman, Lazar (September 30, 2013). "Cultural pride, and unlikely guests, at Kurdish Jewish festival". timesofisrael.com.
  6. "Kurdistan". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  7. "מגורשי ספרד בעיראק – הוצאת דרכון פורטוגלי – משרד עו"ד בת"א וירושלים".
  8. Mamostaye Kurd. "The Kurdish Jews in Transition: From Kurdistan to Israel". Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  9. "Publicity seeking Kurdish official brings back memories of Jewish Kurd aliya fiasco". www.jpost.com. December 7, 2015.
  10. "Ancient pride, and unlikely guests, at Kurdish Jewish festival". timesofisrael.com.
  11. "Mizrahi, Yehezkel – Freedom Fighters of Israel Heritage Association". Retrieved July 15, 2024.
Israeli Jews by geographic origin in the Jewish diaspora
Ashkenazi Jews
Mizrahi Jews
Sephardi Jews
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Demographics of Israel
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  • Druze have a status aparte from Muslim Arabs in Israel, since 1957.
  • Arameans have a status aparte from Christian Arabs in Israel, since 2014.
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