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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Kurds encouraging Jews to return to Kurdistan

Al Arabiya (Arabic) reports on the phenomenon of some Kurds trying to encourage Jews who left Kurdistan after 1948 to return.

The Arabic video shows magazines with Israeli flags on the covers.

Al Arabiya mentions that most Kurds are not opposed to the idea, except for those who live in old Jewish areas who are concerned about losing their homes from Jewish families reclaiming them.

There was a large Jewish community in Kurdistan for centuries, and it appears that the Jews and Kurds lived together peacefully for the most part. It also once had a brilliant female Jewish scholar, Asenath Barzani, who became the head of a yeshiva in Amadiyah and was considered not only a halachic and Kabbalah authority but also a miracle worker.

Kurdistan has a number of Jewish shrines, including the burial place of Jonah and Daniel.

There is a website that encourages Jewish/Israeli/Kurdish ties, called the Israel-Kurdistan Network.