Tradition has it that some of the 10 Lost tribes ended up in Kurdistan and were then supplemented by Jews who were exiled by Nevuchadnezzar and maybe some who were exiled by Titus much later. I’ve known for a long time that the Kurds are very close to the Jews, genetically. My ex-husband was born there and his parents used to tell me how they never had problems with the Kurds. The Jewish Kurds spoke Aramaic (which unfortunately is dying out today) and the Moslem Kurds spoke what my late father in law called Karmanji (a language in the Iranian family). He spoke that and Aramaic and Turkish as well since he would go there for business. So for Kurdish Jews, it’s very easy for them to learn the Talmud which is written in Aramaic. In “The Exile and the Redeemed” written by the late Yitzchak ben Tzvi, he told of a number of Kurdish tribes who claimed descent from the Jewish tribe of Benjamin. Also, the Christian Nestorians who lived in that same area were also of Jewish descent and claimed descent of the 10 lost tribes. They also spoke Aramaic. Due to persecution I don’t know how many of them are still there. Another group that has identified with the Jews in the same way is the Tibetans, and specifically the Dalai Lama who since going into exile was interested in knowing how the Jews preserved their identity in their own long exile.
Very interesting indeed!

Let’s drink to the Judaeo-Kurdish Brotherhood along with old Uncle Noah (Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh Cycle) — who, “tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard” in post-diluvian Kurdistan.

Want proof? Have a read of this scholarly work “Kurdistan, Where Credit is Due”:

http://www.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?LangNr=12&LNNr=28&RNNr=44&showsecondimage=1&RubricNr=61&ArticleNr=41

An excerpt to whet the palate:

“It has been in Kurdistan where archaeologists have been excavating to find evidence for the invention and development of the technologies that transformed man-the-hunter into man-the-farmer and ultimately into man-the-civilized. It is as if the Kurdish mountains and their inhabitants could not possibly have been the site of technologies of such significance, despite irrefutable evidence that they themselves unearthed. Almost instinctively, archaeologists have been reluctant to attribute origins to the original inhabitants of Kurdistan. Instead, they continue to search for external originating sources, at times with a measure of desperation. When such a source eludes them, they tend to list the originating culture as “unknown.” By contrast, when evidence is found in other loci of civilization, as in Mesopotamia, Egypt or Greece, for example, it is automatically attributed to these cultures until proven otherwise.

The reverse is true in treating cultures of the Kurdish mountains. The irony is that, as in the case of bear and wine discoveries, the argument supporting Sumerian involvement is based on evidence that is not only indirect but of later date (i.e., from seal impressions). Kurdish hard evidence deriving from actual fermentation vats complete with dried calcium oxalate sediments (beer residue), is dismissed. Yet Michel et al admit that the carbonized remains of barley used in preparation of the beer was also found first at Godin, as were grapes used for wine making. A brief but close examination of the archaeological evidence and the relationship that existedbetween Kurdish mountain societies and the Sumerians indicate both the direction of influence and the reasons behind it.

Godin was by no means the isolated incidence of technological sophistication in an otherwise culturally and technologically barren region that would justify the search for an external civilizing influence. In fact, the mound of Godin (or Gawdin) is located in one of the world”s richest archaeological regions stretching for one hundred miles from Shahabad, one of the capitals of the ancient Elamites, to Hamadan, the capital of the ancient Medians. In this region the problem for the archaeologist is not where to excavate but which to choose from the literally hundreds of mounds, temples, palace complexes and cave habitats. Here one finds some of the earliest evidence of the domestication of cereals (e.g., barley and wheat), livestock (e.g., goats and sheep) and development of other basic technologies datingback 11000 years (Braidwood et al,1960). Additionally, in the same region are found remains of the world”s oldest glazed pottery at Seh Gabi (Levine, 1974; Vandiver,1990), earliest experiments with writing and accounting at Godin and Ganj Dara (Schmandt-Besserat, 1986; Nissen, 1986; Green, 1981), and now, wine and beer. At a time when most of the rest of the world inhabited caves, Godin appears to have been a major city with well planned and solidly constructed buildings, a city contemporaneous with the oldest cities of Sumeria and Akkadia.

“While lacking in justification, hints by the Michel group of Sumerian origin for Godinbeer technologyprompted theNew York Tmes on 5 November to carry an article squarely attributing the invention of beer (and grape wine) to the Sumerians with no mention of the Kurdish mountains in Iran, deep inside which the actual discovery occurred. The contribution of the Kurds and their inventive ancestors was totally ignored. On the following day, the New York Post carried a cartoon depicting beer-guzzling “Sumerians” in ancient Egyptian costumes with a caption over their heads that reads, “Iraq”s Best Beer.”

Let’s drink to the Judaeo-Kurdish Brotherhood along with old Uncle Noah (Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh Cycle) — who, “tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard” in post-diluvian Kurdistan.

Want proof? Have a read of this scholarly work “Kurdistan, Where Credit is Due”:

http://www.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?LangNr=12&LNNr=28&RNNr=44&showsecondimage=1&RubricNr=61&ArticleNr=41

An excerpt to whet the palate:

“It has been in Kurdistan where archaeologists have been excavating to find evidence for the invention and development of the technologies that transformed man-the-hunter into man-the-farmer and ultimately into man-the-civilized. It is as if the Kurdish mountains and their inhabitants could not possibly have been the site of technologies of such significance, despite irrefutable evidence that they themselves unearthed. Almost instinctively, archaeologists have been reluctant to attribute origins to the original inhabitants of Kurdistan. Instead, they continue to search for external originating sources, at times with a measure of desperation. When such a source eludes them, they tend to list the originating culture as “unknown.” By contrast, when evidence is found in other loci of civilization, as in Mesopotamia, Egypt or Greece, for example, it is automatically attributed to these cultures until proven otherwise.

The reverse is true in treating cultures of the Kurdish mountains. The irony is that, as in the case of bear and wine discoveries, the argument supporting Sumerian involvement is based on evidence that is not only indirect but of later date (i.e., from seal impressions). Kurdish hard evidence deriving from actual fermentation vats complete with dried calcium oxalate sediments (beer residue), is dismissed. Yet Michel et al admit that the carbonized remains of barley used in preparation of the beer was also found first at Godin, as were grapes used for wine making. A brief but close examination of the archaeological evidence and the relationship that existedbetween Kurdish mountain societies and the Sumerians indicate both the direction of influence and the reasons behind it.

Godin was by no means the isolated incidence of technological sophistication in an otherwise culturally and technologically barren region that would justify the search for an external civilizing influence. In fact, the mound of Godin (or Gawdin) is located in one of the world”s richest archaeological regions stretching for one hundred miles from Shahabad, one of the capitals of the ancient Elamites, to Hamadan, the capital of the ancient Medians. In this region the problem for the archaeologist is not where to excavate but which to choose from the literally hundreds of mounds, temples, palace complexes and cave habitats. Here one finds some of the earliest evidence of the domestication of cereals (e.g., barley and wheat), livestock (e.g., goats and sheep) and development of other basic technologies datingback 11000 years (Braidwood et al,1960). Additionally, in the same region are found remains of the world”s oldest glazed pottery at Seh Gabi (Levine, 1974; Vandiver,1990), earliest experiments with writing and accounting at Godin and Ganj Dara (Schmandt-Besserat, 1986; Nissen, 1986; Green, 1981), and now, wine and beer. At a time when most of the rest of the world inhabited caves, Godin appears to have been a major city with well planned and solidly constructed buildings, a city contemporaneous with the oldest cities of Sumeria and Akkadia.

“While lacking in justification, hints by the Michel group of Sumerian origin for Godinbeer technologyprompted theNew York Tmes on 5 November to carry an article squarely attributing the invention of beer (and grape wine) to the Sumerians with no mention of the Kurdish mountains in Iran, deep inside which the actual discovery occurred. The contribution of the Kurds and their inventive ancestors was totally ignored. On the following day, the New York Post carried a cartoon depicting beer-guzzling “Sumerians” in ancient Egyptian costumes with a caption over their heads that reads, “Iraq”s Best Beer.”

Let’s drink to the Judaeo-Kurdish Brotherhood along with old Uncle Noah (Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh Cycle) — who, “tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard” in post-diluvian Kurdistan.

Want proof? Have a read of this scholarly work “Kurdistan, Where Credit is Due”:

http://www.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?LangNr=12&LNNr=28&RNNr=44&showsecondimage=1&RubricNr=61&ArticleNr=41

An excerpt to whet the palate:

“It has been in Kurdistan where archaeologists have been excavating to find evidence for the invention and development of the technologies that transformed man-the-hunter into man-the-farmer and ultimately into man-the-civilized. It is as if the Kurdish mountains and their inhabitants could not possibly have been the site of technologies of such significance, despite irrefutable evidence that they themselves unearthed. Almost instinctively, archaeologists have been reluctant to attribute origins to the original inhabitants of Kurdistan. Instead, they continue to search for external originating sources, at times with a measure of desperation. When such a source eludes them, they tend to list the originating culture as “unknown.” By contrast, when evidence is found in other loci of civilization, as in Mesopotamia, Egypt or Greece, for example, it is automatically attributed to these cultures until proven otherwise.

The reverse is true in treating cultures of the Kurdish mountains. The irony is that, as in the case of bear and wine discoveries, the argument supporting Sumerian involvement is based on evidence that is not only indirect but of later date (i.e., from seal impressions). Kurdish hard evidence deriving from actual fermentation vats complete with dried calcium oxalate sediments (beer residue), is dismissed. Yet Michel et al admit that the carbonized remains of barley used in preparation of the beer was also found first at Godin, as were grapes used for wine making. A brief but close examination of the archaeological evidence and the relationship that existedbetween Kurdish mountain societies and the Sumerians indicate both the direction of influence and the reasons behind it.

Godin was by no means the isolated incidence of technological sophistication in an otherwise culturally and technologically barren region that would justify the search for an external civilizing influence. In fact, the mound of Godin (or Gawdin) is located in one of the world”s richest archaeological regions stretching for one hundred miles from Shahabad, one of the capitals of the ancient Elamites, to Hamadan, the capital of the ancient Medians. In this region the problem for the archaeologist is not where to excavate but which to choose from the literally hundreds of mounds, temples, palace complexes and cave habitats. Here one finds some of the earliest evidence of the domestication of cereals (e.g., barley and wheat), livestock (e.g., goats and sheep) and development of other basic technologies datingback 11000 years (Braidwood et al,1960). Additionally, in the same region are found remains of the world”s oldest glazed pottery at Seh Gabi (Levine, 1974; Vandiver,1990), earliest experiments with writing and accounting at Godin and Ganj Dara (Schmandt-Besserat, 1986; Nissen, 1986; Green, 1981), and now, wine and beer. At a time when most of the rest of the world inhabited caves, Godin appears to have been a major city with well planned and solidly constructed buildings, a city contemporaneous with the oldest cities of Sumeria and Akkadia.

“While lacking in justification, hints by the Michel group of Sumerian origin for Godinbeer technologyprompted theNew York Tmes on 5 November to carry an article squarely attributing the invention of beer (and grape wine) to the Sumerians with no mention of the Kurdish mountains in Iran, deep inside which the actual discovery occurred. The contribution of the Kurds and their inventive ancestors was totally ignored. On the following day, the New York Post carried a cartoon depicting beer-guzzling “Sumerians” in ancient Egyptian costumes with a caption over their heads that reads, “Iraq”s Best Beer.”

Kurds: Probably the first mention of Kurds is in Sumerian documents where they are called Kor-ta-e. One theory, which I found on a kurdish site, is that although modern Kurdish is an Iranian language, that the Kurds originally spoke either a Kartvelian or North Caucasiab langugae like Hurrian or Hattic, and then switched during a period of iranian cultural dominance. The Mitanni state had an Iranian elite and Hurrian population.

“Arabs”: The Iraqis that speak Arabic now have always been in Iraq. They just switched (halfway) to Arabic when it comes to language. The Sumerians considered themselves immigrants in Mesopotamia. The Akkadians and Assyrians seem always to have been in the area.

Anatolian genes in modern Jews: There is evidence for substantial Hittite settlement in what is now modern Israel. During one period prior to the Exodus about 30% of the personal names recorded were Hittite names. That is a pretty hefty slice of the ancestral population.