The Jews of Kurdistan, a mostly rural society, developed a rich oral folk literature. Even the written literature found in manuscripts from Kurdistan originated in oral tradition. Translations of the Bible into Neo-Aramaic dialects were transmitted orally from generation to generation with only some necessary changes in vocabulary. Reading and, even more, writing were not common. Usually only the ḥakhamim (Heb. rabbis) were literate, and most of the written literature, especially in Hebrew, was recorded by them for their own use. Neo-Aramaic translation…