Jewish Subjects and Their Tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan: A Study in Survival

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BRILL, Jan 1, 2007 - Religion - 375 pages
Based on new oral sources, carefully analyzed, this book explores the relationships between Jewish subjects and their tribal chieftains in Kurdistan, focusing on the patronage and justice provided by the chieftains and the financial support provided by the Jews to endure troubles and caprices of chieftains. New reports and vivid tales unveil the status of Jews in the tribal setting; the slavery of rural Jews; the conversion to Islam and the defense mechanisms adopted by Jewish leaders to annul conversion of abducted women. Other topics are the trade and occupations of the Jews and their financial exploitation by chieftains. The last part explores the experience of Jewish communities in Iraqi Kurdistan between World War I and the mass-migration to Israel (1951-52).
 

Contents

Historical Setting
1
PART I URBAN JEWS AND THEIR TRIBAL AGHAS
19
PART II RURAL JEWS AND THEIR TRIBAL AGHAS
123
PART III SOME ASPECTS OF DAILY AND PERSONAL LIFE
185
BETWEEN WWI AND THE IMMIGRATION TO ISRAEL
269
Concluding Remarks
338
Glossary
345
Bibliography
347
Notes on the Informants
361
Kurdistan Region
363
Index
365
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

Mordechai Zaken, Ph.D. (2004) in Near Eastern Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializes in the history of the Kurds, the oriental Jewry and the non-Muslim minorities in the region

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