They Never Forgot Jerusalem

January 15, 2025

by: Janet Aslin, BFP Staff Writer

In the rugged, mountainous region spreading over parts of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northernSyria lies Kurdistan, the home of an ancient Iranic people group. Dwelling among them in isolated communities were Jews who had lived there since the Assyrians brought them from the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC. Over the centuries, the Kurdish Jews retained the faith and traditions of their ancestors, and they never forgot their homeland. When the modern State of Israel was born, those prayers and longings were answered as the Kurdish Jews returned to the Land they had left over 2,500 years before.

Carried Away from Israel

How did these Jews end up in Kurdistan? The earliest written record occurs in Scripture where the biblical account tells us that Shalmaneser V “carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 17:6). These landmarks are all located in northern Iraq among the Kurdish people.

Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the region around 1170 AD, told of a vibrant Jewish presence consisting of over 100 communities where residents still spoke Aramaic. The Kurds themselves lived in highly organized tribal groups into which the Jews—with their different language, faith and customs—were not included. They did, however, fall under the protection of the regional tribal chief and performed the duties he required of them.

Unlike the Iraqi Jews who achieved positions of prominence in society, the neighboring Kurdish Jews led simple lives, limited to being farmers, weavers, tanners, dyers, woodchoppers, porters or boatmen. Walter Fischel, who visited the area in 1949, wrote, “I, too, was greatly moved by the sight of Jews, working under a burning sun, digging and hoeing in their vineyards and fields, and singing Jewish–Aramaic melodies during their work. Powerfully-built men, a Jonah, an Ezra, a Zachariah and others, greeted me with their ‘shalom’ and allowed me to investigate their old geniza (storage area for worn-out Hebrew-language books on religious topics) in the still well-preserved synagogue, built several centuries ago.”

Operation Ezra and Nehemiah

Although the Kurdish Jews did not experience the Spanish Inquisition or the antisemitic pogroms of Eastern Europe, life was not easy. And they were always a people set apart, longing to return to their homeland. Over the years, contact had been maintained through the visits of sh’lichim (emissaries) from Zion as well as through letters written from Jewish communities in Kurdistan to residents of Safed, Tiberias and Jerusalem. So, it should not be surprising that small numbers of the Kurdish Jews were among the first to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) even as early as the late 1500s.

With the birth of the modern State of Israel and the corresponding animosity towards their Jewish populations in the surrounding Arab nations, the Kurdish Jews came home at last. Between 1951 and 1952, nearly the entire Jewish community of Kurdistan was airlifted to Israel, leaving only a few families who had decided to remain behind. Named Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, the airlift brought between 120,000 to 130,000 Kurdish and Iraqi Jews to Israel.

In an article for Aish.com, Dr. Yvette Alt Miller wrote: “Few of the Kurdish Jews had ever seen an airplane, let alone ride in one. The Kurds stepping off the Near East Transport planes in their hand-spun jimidani head coverings looked as dazed and disoriented as if a time-travel machine had just deposited them in a distant future.”

As Israelis welcomed their brothers and sisters fleeing the lands of the Diaspora (Jewish population outside Israel), the limited resources of this tiny nation were nearly stretched to the breaking point. New olim (immigrants) were settled in ma’abarot (temporary transit camps) until more permanent housing could be built. Many of the Kurdish Jews were placed in a tent city at the foot of Castel hill near Jerusalem. They built homes and called the new neighborhood Maoz Zion (Stronghold of Zion), which retains the flavor of its Kurdish beginnings until today.

Today, there are approximately 200,000 Israelis who trace their roots to Kurdistan. About half live in Jerusalem, and they have also established 30 agricultural communities in the Land. They have contributed much to the building of the State of Israel—very literally, as many of the residents of Maoz Zion worked as stonecutters at the Solel Boneh quarry just outside Jerusalem. They were staunch Zionists during the days when they lived in exile and

when they returned, that did not change. Loyal, always ready to lend a helping hand to another in need, if you have a Kurdish friend or neighbor, you will be blessed beyond measure.

Kubbeh Soup

“The Kurdish community was very poor and so was its cuisine,” writes Renana Peres, a Hebrew University professor of Persian–Kurdish descent. One traditional dish is kubbeh soup, which comes in several different variations. The meat-filled dumpling is common to all, while the broth itself and perhaps the vegetables vary. Hamousta is lemony with a celery and chard broth, while matfunia adds pumpkin chunks to make a very hearty soup. Making the dumplings themselves is labor intensive, a process that can begin on Thursday afternoon in preparation for the Shabbat meal the next day. Kubbeh has grown in popularity, and today, it is possible to buy pre-made, frozen dumplings. However, these do not compare to those hand-made by a Kurdish housewife!

A Melting Pot

Today, the State of Israel is a melting pot of traditions and cultures that have been brought home from the Diaspora with the returning Jews. However, at the center of their being and the core of their identity, all are descendants of Abraham and are inextricably linked to the Land of Israel. These small cultural differences are simply an enrichment of God’s chosen people who call this Land home.

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