Osnat Barzani was born almost five hundred years ago — at a time when almost everyone believed in miracles. But very few believed that girls should learn to read.
Yet Osnat’s father was a great scholar whose house was filled with books. And she convinced him to teach her. Then she in turn grew up to teach others, becoming a wise scholar in her own right, the world's first female rabbi!
Some say Osnat performed miracles — like healing a dove who had been shot by a hunter! Or saving a congregation from fire!
But perhaps her greatest feat was to be a light of inspiration for other girls and boys; to show that any person who can learn might find a path that none have walked before.
Osnat and Her Dove is a children’s picture book that will surprise and delight readers of all ages by revealing the little-known, true story of the Kurdish girl who became a rabbi in Mosul (in modern-day Iraq) in the 1600s.
The book won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in the US. School Library Journal and Tablet Magazine both named it a best book of 2021. It made the CCBC Choices List as well as the ALSC Notable Children’s Books List. It is available for purchase: