Kurdish Jews or Kurdistani Jews (Hebrew: יהודי כורדיסטן, Yehudei Kurdistan, lit. Jews of Kurdistan; Aramaic: יהודיא, Hozaye; Kurdish: Kurdên cihû) are the ancient Eastern Jewish communities, inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan in northern Mesopotamia, roughly covering parts of Iran, northern Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Kurdish Muslims and Christian Assyrians. Until their immigration to Israel in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Jews of Kurdistan lived as closed ethnic communities. Kurdish Jews largely spoke Aramaic, with some speaking native Kurdish dialects. For example, in Iraqi Kurdistan, they spoke both Aramaic and the Kurmanji dialect. After coming to Israel however, those who spoke Kurmanji switched over to Aramaic. Today, the large majority of Kurdish Jews and their descendants live in Israel.
Read more about Kurdish Jews: Modern Times, Genetic Analysis of Kurdish Jews, Historiography
Famous quotes containing the word jews:
“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”
—Bible: New Testament, Galatians 2:15-16.