Kurdish Jews

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.