| Total population | |
|---|---|
 Israel 300,000[1][2][3] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| MainlyJerusalem, alsoTel Aviv and many other places. | |
| Languages | |
| Hebrew (Main language for all generations); Older generation:Kurdish (Kurmanji,Sorani andFeyli),Persian,Judeo-Aramaic | |
| Religion | |
 Judaism |
Kurdish Jews inIsrael are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of theKurdish Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. They number about 300,000.[4][5][6]
Immigration of Kurdish Jews to theLand of Israel initiated during the late 16th century, with a community of rabbinic scholars arriving toSafed,Galilee, and a Kurdish Jewish quarter had been established there as a result. The thriving period of Safed howeverended in 1660, withDruze power struggles in the region and an economic decline.
Many Kurdish Jews, especially the ones who hail fromIraq, went through aSephardic Jewish blending during the 18th century.[7]
Since the early 20th century, some Kurdish Jews had been active in theZionist movement. One of the most famous members ofLehi (Freedom Fighters of Israel) wasMoshe Barazani, whose family immigrated from Iraq and settled inJerusalem in the late 1920s. In 1939, there were 4,369 in Jerusalem, growing to 30,000 in 1972.[8]
The vast majority of Kurdish Jews wereforced out by Iraqi authorities, beingevacuated to Israel in the early 1950s, together with otherIraqi Jewish community. The vast majority of the Kurdish Jews ofIranian Kurdistan relocated mostly to Israel as well, in the 1950s.[9]
The Times of Israel reported on September 30, 2013: "Today, there are almost 200,000 Kurdish Jews in Israel, about half of whom live in Jerusalem. There are also over 30 agricultural villages throughout the country that were founded by Kurdish Jews."[10] Today, the large majority of the Jews of Kurdistan and their descendants live in Israel.
