Les Juifs de Kirkouk

Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, sheltered an ancient Jewish community inscribed in the long history of Mesopotamian Judaism. Its members, speaking Arabic and, in part, Neo-Aramaic dialects, were merchants and craftsmen organized around their synagogues. The region experienced strong development in the twentieth century linked to oil extraction. After the creation of the State of Israel and the exodus of Iraq's Jews in the early 1950s, the community of Kirkuk emigrated almost entirely, to Israel and the diaspora originating from Iraqi Judaism.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World — Brill
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan