Yona Sabar ( he, יוֹנָה צַבָּר, born 1938 in

Zakho Zakho, also spelled Zaxo ( ku, زاخۆ, Zaxo, syr, ܙܵܟ݂ܘܿ, Zākhō, , ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, at the centre of the eponymous Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Iraq–Turkey b ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

) is a Kurdistani Jewish scholar, linguist and researcher. He is professor '' emeritus'' of Hebrew at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

. He is a native speaker of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic and has published more than 90 research articles about Jewish Neo-Aramaic and the folklore of the Jews of Kurdistan. Sabar was born in the town of Zakho in northern Iraq. His family moved to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 1951. He received a B.A. in Hebrew and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1963 and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1970. His immigrant journey from the hills of

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

to the highways of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

is the subject of an award-winning

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

by his son, Ariel Sabar, an American author and journalist. Ariel Sabar's boo
''My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq''
won the 2008

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 232 pp., 1982. * * *

References

External links

Yona Sabar's UCLA websiteMy Father's Paradise
by Ariel Sabar
Hollywood Calling
by Ariel Sabar
Prof. Sabar on the claim that Barzani is Jewish
by JTA {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabar, Yona Iraqi Jews Iraqi emigrants to Israel Kurdish Jews 1938 births Living people Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Yale University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of California Near Eastern Languages and Cultures faculty Kurdish scholars Kurdish social scientists American people of Iraqi-Assyrian descent People from Zakho