Kurdistan: A Jewish 'shiviti' plaque in Hebrew, from either Iraqi or Iranian Kurdistan, 19th century

Shiviti are meditative representations of a menorah candlestick used in some Jewish communities for contemplation over God's name. They are usually placed over the amud-the podium from which the prayer service is led by the hazzan. The Jews of Kurdistan are the ancient Eastern Jewish communities inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan in northern Mesopotamia, roughly covering parts of northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Kurdish Muslims and Assyrians. Until their immigration to Israel in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Jews of Kurdistan lived as closed ethnic communities. The Jews of Kurdistan largely spoke Aramaic as a lingua franca, with some additionally speaking Kurdish dialects, in particular the Kurmanji dialect in Iraqi Kurdistan.