The Kurdistani Jews of Israel

The Kurdistani Jews of Israel, numbering approximately 52,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a historically isolated, Aramaic-speaking, rural Jewish minority embedded in Kurdish society, maintaining a strong religious identity while adopting regional cultural forms. They mostly adhere to Judaism and Hebrew is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Kurdish Jew

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Jewish Peoples
Country: Israel
People Cluster: Jews
Primary Language(s): Hebrew (heb)
Primary Religion(s): Judaism
Population: 52,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011743
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Kurdistani Jews of Israel

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Judaism
Religious Affiliation: Judaism

100%
%
Judaism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Hebrew
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Hebrew Speakers

Media Resources in Hebrew:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
The SaviorView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Hebrew:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1995 Modern Hebrew✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Hebrew bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Kurdistani Jews:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Kurdistani Jews of Israel

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
readProverbs 8:17

As many search for hope, pray they will discover materials that will lead them to Jesus and explain the gospel in a way they will resonate with.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
readPsalm 104:8

Pray that they will see the hand of God in the beauty and order of the natural world, and that they will worship Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
readTitus 3:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and might struggle with temptation to trust in their own works, they will remember that it is only because of God's mercy that they have been saved.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
read1 Corinthians 9:20

Pray that believers from similar cultures will be compelled by Christ's love to reach people who don't know the gospel, and that those people will receive the good news with joy.

Jew, Kurdish Across Countries (ROP3 - 103906) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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