The Jews of Kurdistan: History, Culture, and Language

Who are the Jews of Kurdistan, and what does their language, history, and folklore reveal about one of the oldest and most distinctive Jewish communities in the world? Tracing their roots back nearly 2,700 years to the Assyrian exile, Kurdistani Jews lived for centuries in mountain villages across what is now Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish, and Syrian Kurdistan, speaking Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects closely related to the language of the Babylonian Talmud. In this four-session course, Alan Niku surveys the history, religious practice, folklore, and material culture of this Mizrahi community, with particular attention to Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects that served as its everyday languages. Along the way, participants will pick up a few words and phrases of Hulaula, gaining a direct window into the rhythms and textures of a community that, while almost entirely relocated to Israel and the United States since the 1950s, continues to maintain its distinctive heritage today.

Who this is for:

• Learners curious about Mizrahi Jewish traditions beyond the more familiar Sephardic and Ashkenazi worlds.
• Anyone with Kurdistani Jewish heritage seeking deeper engagement with their community's history.
• Students of Jewish languages, especially Neo-Aramaic dialects and their relationship to the language of the Babylonian Talmud.
• Anyone drawn to the meeting points of Mizrahi history, indigenous Kurdistani culture, and Jewish folklore.

What you'll leave with:

• A working understanding of one of the world's oldest Jewish communities, traced from the Assyrian exile across 2,700 years of life in Kurdistani mountain villages.
• Familiarity with Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects, including Hulaula, and their relationship to the language of the Babylonian Talmud.
• Knowledge of the religious practices, folklore, and material culture that distinguished Kurdistani Jewish life.
• A sense of how this community has carried its distinctive heritage through mid-twentieth-century relocation to Israel and the United States.

Four Tuesdays: August 11, 18, 25 and September 1, 7–8:30pm Pacific