Asenath Barzani

Asenath Barzani (born 1590 ; died 1670 ) was a Kurdish-Jewish woman who lived in Mosul ( Ottoman Empire ). She was one of the first women to receive a rabbinical title ( tanna'it ).

The life of the Asenath Barzani

Asenath Barzani was the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barzani, who led a yeshiva during his life and whose authority in Kurdistan was absolute. He was a master of Kabbalah , and it is said that he taught the secrets of Kabbalah to his daughter. She admired her father and saw him as king of Israel. He was her chief teacher, and after his death she assumed many of his duties. She not only served as a rabbi, but also became the head of the yeshiva in Mosul and probably became the senior teacher of the Torah in Kurdistan. Another source said that Asenath Barzani, in 16th century Kurdistan, implored the Torah scholars of Amediye to support the yeshiva her husband established in Mosul until her young son would take it over.

Barzani received the title Tanna'it ( teacher , master , not to be confused with the terminus technicus Tanna , which in the narrower sense is restricted to the rabbinical teachers of the first three centuries after Christianity). Until modern times, very few women received this title. After Tanna'it Barzani died, many Jews made pilgrimages to her grave in Amediye in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The legend of the angels

Barzani was a poet and expert on Jewish literature, and there are many Kurdish legends circulating about her miracles, such as the one called A Company of Angels . After Rabbi Samuel died, he often appeared in his daughter's dreams. He would warn her of dangers and show her how to prevent them and how to save many lives. On one occasion, inspired by her father, she encouraged the Jews of Amediyes to celebrate Rosh Chodesh outdoors despite the danger of enemies. As the festivities continued, screams were heard and flames were seen rising into the sky. The synagogue was infected, but since the congregation was outside the synagogue, no one was harmed. Then Tanna'it Asenath whispered a secret name she had learned from her father. The people then saw a crowd of angels descending on the roof of the synagogue. The angels flapped the flames with their wings until the last spark went out. Then they rose into the sky like a flock of white pigeons and were gone. When the smoke cleared, they saw another miracle: the synagogue was intact and the fire hadn't harmed it. Not a single part of the Torah scrolls had been touched by the flames. And the people were so grateful to the Tanna'it Asenath that they renamed the synagogue after her. The synagogue still stands today.

Status as rabbi

Some modern scholars regard Barzani's title and her role as head of the yeshiva as being equivalent to a rabbi, and consequently regard her as a rare example of a female rabbi in traditional Judaism.

swell

• Rescuing Voices By Rochelle Furstenberg, Haddassah Magazine, August / September 2000 Vol. 82 No. 1
• Asenath, Barzani, "Asenath's Petition", First published in Hebrew by Jacob Mann, ed., In Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature , vol.1, Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinnati, 1931. Translation by Peter Cole.
• Mahir Ünsal Eriş: Kürt Yahudileri - Din, Dil, Tarih , Turkish , Kalan Verlag, Ankara, 2006
• Yona Sabar : The Folk Literature of the Kurdistani Jews (New Haven: Yale University Press), 1982.
• Hasan-Rokem, G., Hess, T. and Kaufman, S., Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity: A Bilingual Anthology , Publisher: Feminist Press, 1999, ISBN 1-55861-223-8 . (see p. 65, 16th century / Kurdistan and Asenath's Petition)
• Berkovic, S., Straight Talk: My Dilemma as an Orthodox Jewish Woman, Ktav Publishing House, 1999, ISBN 0-88125-661-7 .
• Hadassah Magazine, Nov. 2003
• Grossman, Avraham. Pious and Rebellious: Jewish Women in Medieval Europe . Brandeis University Press, 2004, p. 163.
• Judaism in Encyclopaedia Kurdistanica
• Schwartz, Howard. The Day the Rabbi Disappeared. Jewish Holiday Tales of Magic. Illustrated by Monique Passicot.

See also

• Kurdish Jews

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Who was the first woman, "Rabbi"? In: Yekta Uzunoglu . ( yektauzunoglu.com [accessed July 4, 2018]).
2. ↑ http://yektauzunoglu.com/en/2018/02/12/who-was-the-first-female-rabbi/ : Who was the first female "rabbi"? In: Yekta Uzunoglu . ( yektauzunoglu.com [accessed July 6, 2018]).
3. ↑ Hadassah Magazine August / September 2000 ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.