Asenath Barzani

Asenath Barzani (, 1590–1670), was a Kurdish Jewish female rabbinical scholar, rosh yeshiva, and poet who lived near Duhok, Kurdistan.

Biography

Family background Asenath was born in 1590 into the Barzani family, a well-known Jewish family in Northern Kurdistan. Her grandfather, , was a rabbi and the leader of the Jewish community in Mosul, and considered to be a holy man in the local Jewish community and its environs. Due to the honor of his teachings, he was addressed as Adoni (Hebrew, ). His son and Asenath's father, , a rabbi and mystic, was troubled by the status of the Torah among the Jews of Kurdistan and by the lack of spiritual leaders and halakhic decisors. He established several yeshivas in Barzan, Akre, Amedi, and Mosul to cultivate wise students who could serve the public as rabbis, hazzans, and shochets (kosher slaughterers). The education of such students were supported by donations from Jewish philanthropists.

Barzani married her cousin Ya'aqov Mizraḥi, who promised her father that she would do no domestic work and could spend her time as a Torah scholar.

The German Jewish ethnologist Erich Brauer, who included Barzani's letter (without mentioning her name) in his study of the Jews of Iraq in the early 1940s, was not convinced she could have composed such writing on her own. After her death, many Jews made pilgrimages to her grave in Amedi in the Kurdistan Region in Upper Mesopotamia, where her father is also buried.

Title and status The title of Tanna'it, and her role as head of a yeshiva, is not equivalent to being a rabbi, and hence she is regarded as a rare example of an Orthodox female rabbinical teacher, rather than a rabbi per se, or a rabbinic authority figure such as a posek or dayan. At the time during which Barzani lived, the concept of rabbinic ordination (semikha) was in flux and a unified agreement of the requirements and rituals for semikha across the Jewish world did not exist.

Poetry In addition to her religious scholarship, Barzani was also known as a poet. She is said to have authored a piyyut (liturgical poem) called Ga’agua l’Zion ("Longing for Zion", in Hebrew).

Legends There are many stories and legends about Barzani and miracles she performed, including the one described in "A Flock of Angels".

As they proceeded with the celebration, there were shouts and they saw flames shoot up into the sky. The synagogue had been set on fire, with all the sacred books and scrolls in it. After Barzani whispered a secret name she had learned from her father, the people saw a flock of angels descending to the roof of the synagogue. The angels beat the flames with their wings, until every last spark had been put out. Then they rose up into the heavens like a flock of white doves and were gone. And when the smoke cleared, everybody saw that not only none of the Jews had been hurt since the congregation had been outdoors, but that another miracle had taken place: the synagogue had not burned, nor were any of the Torah scrolls touched by the flames. After that miracle, the Jews of Amêdî were not harassed by the gentiles for a long time. Gratefully, they renamed the synagogue after her, and the legend ends with the words "and it is still standing today".