Kurdish Women
In Brief
Jews lived in Kurdistan for 2,800 years until a mass migration to Israel in the 1950s. This Jewish community’s ancient roots and relative seclusion in the Kurdistan region fostered unique religious, cultural, and linguistic practices. The community spoke an Aramaic that is closely related to ancient Aramaic, as well as Kurdish in larger society. Kurdish and Jewish life and culture became so intertwined that popular folk stories accounting for Kurdish ethnic origins connect them with the Jews. The country’s harsh geography and climate contributed to the establishment of the economic structure of Kurdish Jewry’s small rural communities, which relied on traditional farming. Women and men both worked in the fields, and, despite the patriarchal nature of the society, women were treated with a high level of respect.
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