Page 22 - Virtual Tour - The German Colony - Historical View, Advanced - 110716

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Advanced Level – ?המושבה הגרמנית החדש?

‘Shaarei Achim’ Synagogue
The ‘Shaarei Achim’ Synagogue is a synagogue in the style of Kurdish
Jewry.
Kurdish Jewry has a special tradition, unique stories and legends.
They believed they got to Kurdistan after the exile of the ten tribes, an
exile from 720 B.C.E.
In the Kurdistan area there are difficult topographical conditions.
These conditions led to a disconnect between Kurdish Jewry and the
many other Jewish communities in the area. It seems that there was
not even a connection between them and the nearby Babylonian
Jewish communities.
Perhaps this explains one of the unique historical phenomena in
Kurdish Jewry – Rabbi Osnat Barazani. A woman rabbi, who even
stood (served) as the head of a yeshiva! It’s important to understand,
(we are) not talking about a Reform or modern rabbi, but rather about
the 17th century…
Osnat was the daughter and granddaughter of important and
respectable rabbis in Kurdistan. When she was a child, her father
established a yeshiva and was the head of it. When she grew up her
father married her off to one of his students, Rabbi Yaakov Mizrahi,
and he took his place as the head of the yeshiva after he died.
Throughout the years Osnat taught at the yeshiva and received the
nickname ‘The Tana’it’ (a respectable title in the world of Torah). The
peak was that after her husband died she became the head of the
yeshiva.
A letter was found at the disposal of the community in which a rabbi
refers to her as “our teacher and our rabbi”. So who says women can’t
be rabbis?

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