Mizrahi Dialects and the Persistence of Collective Cultural Memory
Painting by Sophie Levy
Languages are powerful. They serve as virtual time machines, transcending the fabric of society to tell stories that convey the weight and influence of civilizations. They can just as well be used to gauge the weaknesses and prospective dangers faced by a people, acting as harbingers of impending destruction or distress. Judaism itself is not only a religion, but a civilization bearing its own ethnic, cultural, and even linguistic identity, and we can thus trace the ebb and flow of Jewish history through the changes and continuities that make up its rich linguistic heritage. A subject often ignored in the study of Jewish languages is their importance to the history of the Jewish communities of the Middle East; before I dive more deeply into the discussion of these Middle Eastern Jewish languages and their immense significance, however, the historical context in which these languages were born must be properly illustrated.
The Babylonian Kingdom’s conquest of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE, under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, marked a significant turning point in Jewish history. The Jewish people were subject to enslavement in Babylonia until 538 BCE, when Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus II, conquered Babylonia and liberated the Jewish captives. Reputable for serving as a benevolent ruler, Cyrus (referred to in the Book of Isaiah by the epithet “God’s anointed”) allowed the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild their first temple, which the Babylonians had destroyed during their hegemony in the Levant. Although a number of Jews decided to return to what is present-day Israel, many decided to remain in the Persian empire, which welcomed them with open arms and granted them citizenship.
The Jewish captivity in Babylonia and subsequent Persian rule in the Achaemenid empire brought markedly significant changes to Jewish society and culture, such as the adoption of the current Hebrew alphabet, the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Judaism, and the emergence of scribes and sages as communal leaders instead of Jewish monarchs. Along with these cultural changes also came changes in the linguistic heritage of Jews living under the reign of Persian kings. After Darius I established Aramaic as the official language in the Western half of the Achaemenid Empire, the Jews quickly adapted to using the Eastern Aramaic dialect of Babylon for daily affairs and business - while preserving Biblical Hebrew mostly for religious study and prayer.
The adoption of Aramaic by Jews in Aramaic-speaking areas throughout Mesopotamia led to the gradual creation of a number of Hebrew-influenced Aramaic languages, called the “Judeo-Aramaic” languages. Up until the early 20th century, these languages were widely spoken in Jewish communities across the ethnically Kurdish regions of Northern Iraq and Northwestern Iran. Although there is no formal or standard Judeo-Aramaic language, most Judeo-Aramaic dialects are mutually intelligible and serve as the lingua franca of Kurdish Jews who either conduct business in the Sorani and Kurmanji dialects of Kurdish, or in Persian and Arabic.
I myself have Kurdish Jewish ancestry on my mother’s side, and both of my maternal grandparents speak a dialect of Judeo Aramaic called “Hulaulá” or “Lishana Achni” (originally spoken by the Jews of Iranian Kurdistan). The word “Hulaulá” itself literally translates to Hebrew (as in the language) and “Lishana Achni” translates to our language. The word “Lishana,” translating to language, is itself similar to the word “Lashon” in Hebrew, meaning tongue or language. The word “Achni,” translating to the possessive adjective our, is also similar to the Hebrew word “anachnu,” which means our or belonging to us. I grew up around my grandparents speaking this language in domestic settings, i.e. during Shabbat dinners and important occasions, and I understand it fully but speak it very minimally.
The following is a recording and translation of my grandmother recounting her Passover experience as a child in the city of Sanandaj in the Iranian province of Kurdistan:
“When I was a child living in Sanandaj, my father owned farmland with plenty of horses. He would mount us on our own horse and lead us in the windy night to our grandparents’ house for the seder on the first night of Passover. I remember my favorite Passover tradition being Shalshalakan, where we would take a hard boiled egg and hop on one foot to our grandfather. Once we finished hopping to our grandfather, he would ask us ‘where are you coming from,’ and we’d respond ‘Egypt!’ He would then ask us ‘where are you going,’ and we’d respond ‘Jerusalem!’ After he pretended to open the gates of Jerusalem for us, we were finally allowed to eat the hard-boiled egg.”
The Passover tradition my grandma recounts here, “Shalshalakan,” is common for Kurdish Iranian Jewish families to honor during the Passover seder or meal. It is ironically a fun and enjoyable way for children to reenact the hardships of the journey the Israelites took from Egypt to Israel (hence the hopping on one foot), and a tradition I love to partake in. Her story also reveals something deeper about the cultural and societal conditions of Jews in Iranian Kurdistan. In the beginning of the recording, she mentions that her father “owned farmland with plenty of horses”. This shows the disparity of wealth between Jewish communities in Kurdistan and Jewish communities in Iran before the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. Before the Pahlavi Shahs ruled Iran, most Jews of Central Iran faced periods of heavy discrimination and were forced to live in urban ghettos. However, the Jews of Iranian Kurdistan faced relatively less discrimination from the Muslim majority in the area, were not forced to live in ghettos, and had more opportunities to acquire wealth than the Jews of Central Iran. This discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that the Kurds of Iranian Kurdistan, who are Sunni Muslims, do not believe that non-believers (non-Muslims) are a source of ritual impurity or najjes, whereas the Shia majority of Central Iran does believe so.
The dialect of Judeo-Aramaic my grandparents speak is of course not the only existing dialect. There is also the dialect Lishana Deni, originally spoken in Northern Iraq, and Lishan Didan, originally spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan and around Lake Van in Turkey, among many others.
Additionally, another group of languages that adds further diversity to the rich linguistic heritage of the Middle East is Judeo-Persian. The Judeo-Persian languages arose from the pockets of Jewish communities of Central Iran that have existed in the area since the freeing of Jewish captives in Babylonia by Cyrus the Great. The term Judeo-Persian itself is somewhat obscure and could even be considered a misnomer. The term “Judeo-Persian” in actuality refers to the Persian language written in Hebrew script, but the Hebrew-influenced Iranian languages spoken by the Jews of Persia can be referred to most accurately by the term “Judeo-Iranian Languages”. This umbrella term not only includes Judeo-Persian dialects spoken in Iran, such as Judeo-Kashi (spoken by the Jews of Kashan province) and Judeo-Isfahani (spoken by the Jews of Isfahan province), but also includes less common dialects like Judeo-Bukharic (spoken by the Jews of Bukhara in Uzbekistan) and Judeo-Pathani (spoken by Jews from the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan).
Judeo-Iranian languages are much different from Judeo-Aramaic languages: while Judeo-Iranian languages belong to the Iranian language family, Judeo-Aramaic languages belong to the Semitic language family. However, both of these Jewish language groups are influenced by Hebrew and reflect the common culture that differentiated Jews in the Middle East and broader Western Asia from people of other religions in the area.
Of course, just as Judeo-Aramaic languages like my grandparents’ Hulaulá have been used to pass traditions and fables across generations, Persian Jewish elders often tell intriguing stories and fables in Judeo-Iranian tongues. These stories often do not evoke the same intrigue and humor when told in standard Persian, so I have included a video of a man telling a parable Judeo-Kashi below (followed by an English translation):
“In the olden days in Kashan there was a fellow who was so lazy that they would call him ‘Shahtanbal*.’ One day when he wanted to go to work, he was looking for an excuse not to go. While he was riding his horse, he asked someone, ‘How is it that a person dies?’ The fellow he asked, who knew him, said, ‘On a day when it is cold, and you are sitting on your horse and going uphill if your horse passes gas, you will die immediately.’ Shahtanbal, who wanted to die and not have to go to work, heard that his horse passed gas powerfully. Shahtanbal, imagining that he had already died, dismounted from his horse, pretended he was sleeping in the middle of the road and went to sleep. The people, having thought that he had died, went and brought a coffin and put him in the coffin. They then wanted to take him to the cemetery. Along their way, there was a water stream, and they could not pass over it while carrying the coffin. Shahtanbal brought his head out of the coffin and said, ‘When I was alive, I’d take another route around the stream to get to the cemetery.’ The people, when they saw that he was still alive, let him go and threw him into the stream - so that he would know that he is still alive, and also that he learn that it is good for a living person to work”
* “Shahtanbal” literally translates to King-Lazy or King of the Lazies.
The parable of Shahtanbal is only one example of many parables and such that make up an important part of Persian-Jewish heritage. Aside from humorous parables, there also exists an abundance of Judeo-Persian or Judeo-Iranian literature. One of the most famous Persian Jewish authors who wrote in Judeo-Persian is the 14th-century poet Shahin Shirazi. His epic poems indicate a very comprehensive understanding of Classical Persian literature as well as Talmudic and Midrashic works; he wrote a very impressive versification of the Book of Genesis in the mid 14th-century entitled “Bereshit Namah.”
The beauty and importance of Judeo-Iranian and Judeo-Aramaic languages cannot be discussed without explaining their deeply concerning endangerment. Most of these languages and their smaller dialects are assigned an EGIDS level of 8. The EGIDS level is a standard that indicates whether a language is strong enough in terms of its ability to survive in the near future. Being assigned to level 8 indicated that most Judeo-Aramaic and Judeo-Iranian languages are “moribund” and in danger of extinction. They are not used on a daily basis by their fluent speakers, and the languages are not being passed on or taught to younger generations.
On that note, I must stress the importance of preserving languages. There is certainly a richness to Judeo-Aramaic and Judeo-Persian languages that is worth remembering- not to mention their ability to convey significant cultural and societal differences between communities, and their ability to withstand the barrier of time by recounting a history so complex and multi-layered. But the only way to unlock the powers of endangered languages, in general, is by speaking them, by recording them, by adapting them to our lives. I therefore strongly encourage whoever reads this to seek out any and all opportunities to learn these dialects. Whether you have a family member who speaks an endangered language or the friend of a family member does so, or you simply show a general interest in linguistics or historical preservation or both: please make some sort of effort to preserve it. Passing that up means missing out on a very exciting opportunity that most people only wish they could have: the ability to travel back in time.
References
Tablet.otzar.org, http://tablet.otzar.org/he/book/book.php?%20book=156653&width=0&scroll=0&udid=0&pagenum=2.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Babylonian Exile.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 Dec. 2017, www.britannica.com/event/Babylonian-Exile.
Electricpulp.com. “Encyclopædia Iranica.” RSS, www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aramaic-.
Electricpulp.com. “Encyclopædia Iranica.” RSS,
www.iranicaonline.org/articles/judeo-persian-ix-judeo-persian-literature.
“Hulaulá in the Language Cloud.” Ethnologue, www.ethnologue.com/cloud/huy.
