Excerpts based on the book "From Babylon to Jerusalem"
The Story of the Barazani Family
Israeli historical fragmets
From Babylon to Jerusalem
In 1994, Akram Barazani arrived in the Kurdish autonomous regions of northern Iraq.
Six decades after his parents left their homeland and embarked on a long, winding life journey, Akram returned to the same land that for thousands of years had been a generous host to Jews and their communities.
The First Gulf War had ended, and in its wake, the Kurds received another opportunity to be a free people in their own land. After historical opportunities missed for centuries, their independence seemed closer than ever before. On the map, the borders of the autonomy were drawn, and its gates opened to anyone for whom this land was dear.
Akram heard about this at his home in the town of Mevaseret Zion, in the Jerusalem mountains. He heard about the gates opening beyond the mountains, packed a small suitcase, boarded a plane to Turkey, and from there to Kurdistan. At the age of 60, a father to children and a grandfather to grandchildren, the yearning burned within him to return to the starting point of the path he had traveled in his life.
The land of the Kurds welcomed him back as a returning resident.
Akram traveled among the towns and villages situated on the mountain plateaus, slopes, and cliffs, awestruck by the rivers flowing at the foot of snowy cliffs. He met the people of the Kurdish nation, whose ancestors had lived alongside his own for generations. Their facial features, clothing, language, and songs were deeply etched in his soul, awaiting a face-to-face encounter.
He had barely returned home when he already planned his next trip.
Another visit, another foray, and another – alone, with his loyal wife Rachel, or accompanied by acquaintances. He flew on planes, rode in jeeps, crossed border crossings and roadblocks, exploring the length and breadth of the Kurdish Autonomous Region. He reached cities, towns, villages, and remote places that were, and still are, part of a distant heritage and memory: Barzan, Zakho, Dohuk, Amadiya, Akra, Sulaymaniyah, Rawanduz, Erbil – names carved into the collective memory of Jews who originated from Kurdistan. All these were settlements where Jewish communities once thrived, but now remain devoid of any Jewish trace.
His visits led to amazing encounters – with leaders of the Kurdish people and with common folk. And in between, he encountered one Jewish woman who remained alone in a remote village, the last remnant of a Jewish community that had left for the Land of Israel. In a swift operation coordinated with government offices, he successfully managed to get her out and bring her to Israel.
1994 - Akram Barazani (standing second from right) with members of the Kurdish people.
Akram Barazani was among the trailblazers who dared to cross the Turkish border alone, travel in the Kurdish Autonomous Region, and do what no other Israelis had done for many decades.
No one sent him. No official institution in the State of Israel asked him to go there or to conduct any contacts on its behalf. He was a self-appointed emissary, driven by an internal urge stemming from longing and yearning for his birthplace...
...and he was actually born in Baghdad and grew up in the Iraqi capital.
A quarter of a century has passed since his return to Kurdistan.
The Kurdish borders have once again become frontiers of war and danger for visitors.
Far away, in Mevaseret Zion, Akram and his wife Rachel reside in their home, surrounded by children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
They have stories to tell their descendants – about Iraq and Kurdistan, about exile and redemption, about the ingathering of exiles and the "melting pot" experience, about war and peace, and about roots uprooted and replanted during the period that shaped the face of the State of Israel.
Their archive of memories is full and overflowing with unforgettable sights and figures, sounds and tastes. All of them are accompanied by the Kurdish identity that was etched into their souls and did not fade in the "melting pot" experience of Israeli society.
"I am Kurdish," Akram used to say to his family, his friends, to anyone he came into contact with, proudly carrying the expression born in the Kurdish mountains – "Ana Kurdi" was the battle cry of the Kurdish tribes in the mountains.
They roared the slogan aloud, raising their hands skyward, and went out to guard their independence and pride.
He followed in their footsteps to hear their voices, to see them rooted in their land, to search for the origins of his ancestors, to renew the covenant between them and the Jewish people.
"I am the Kurd whose ancestors the King of Assyria exiled" – so wrote Akram, when he began his journey along the historical timeline of his life.
And it all begins somewhere beyond the mountains and the desert, back in the 19th century, and perhaps much earlier.
A selected collection of additional chapters, and historical pieces from the life of Kurdistan and Iraq Jews, in the following links:
All chapters are based on the book "From Babylon to Jerusalem," which tells the life story of Rachel and Akram Barazani and was written in Hebrew.
