Asnat is the Hebrew name from Genesis (Joseph's Egyptian wife). **Asnat Barzani (c. 1590-1670)** was the **17th-century Kurdish-Jewish woman widely considered the first female rabbi in Jewish history** — head of the famous yeshiva of Mosul (in modern Iraq). **Daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barzani, she inherited the rabbinic role from her father and her husband**, taught Torah and Kabbalah to generations of students, and ruled on Jewish legal questions. **Three Hebrew letters and poems by her survive.**
Featured in modern Kurdish-Jewish memorial literature.
Asnat reduces to eight — the number of first female rabbi.