# Aramaic-Speaking Jewish Communities



## talmid

200509   0125

Hi!

I believe a language was (is ?) spoken by Jews in Iran during the 20th century ,said to have been known to the speakers of this language as:
"Safah shelanu"(Our language)-  שפה שלנו

Examples of this language, but only from from misty memory, so I could be
very much mistaken, was / is : 
Mah hit akhlekh -        transcribed into Ivrit as:     ? מה הת אכלך  = What is there to eat ?
Ana akarah zhizieyna -   """""""""""""""""""""            אנא עקרא ג'זיאינא = I am very tired   

I am curious to learn whether anyone recognises my transcription,
&, if affirmative, whether the language is Aramaic - or , if recognisable, what the language is called, please.

I offer apologies, in advance, if I no-one recognises it.

Thank you


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## origumi

I am not a native Aramaic speaker - yet it looks very much as modern Aramaic. Although originally similar to Hebrew, the modern Dialects show strong Arabic, Persian and maybe Turkish influence.

The Aramaic Jews call themselves "nash didan" = "our people", and their language "lishna didan" = "our language". In Israel it is called (by the general population) Kurdish - a mistake that arises from the fact that Aramaic-speaking Jews lived among the Kurds.

The Jewish-Aramaic community is becoming older and their descendants do not keep the old tradition (2500 years old).

The Jewish-Aramaic language is practically identical to the Assyrian (Syriac, Chaldean) language of northern Iraq and the surrounding area. It is said to have about 600,000 speakers. The people and the culture are under threat due to pressures from the neighbors. Take into account that the Aramaic people are non-Arab and non-Muslim that live among Muslims (Arabs, Iranian, Turks, Kurds), with all the political and religious consequences.


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## talmid

200509   1655

Jewish-Aramaic community


G'Day!

And thanks so much for the very interesting reply

As you clearly have knowledge of the subject and I am interested to learn more about this language, if you have any further information about whether there exists  in Israel  an association or organisation of Jewish Arameans and/or whether the members of this group are concentrated in any particular region in Israel, etcetera,,I would much appreciate this further advice, please

Thank you


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## origumi

This is the community's web site: http://nashdidan.co.il/nash.php?lang=en. Mostly Hebrew, some English, basic info about the Aramaic language. It is maintained by Nisan Aviv who has been doing anything possible in the last 40 years to preserve the community, language and culture but (as he himself sadly admits) in vain.


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## origumi

Correction: Nash Didan is actually the community that lived in the north, mainly Azerbaijan. The Jewish-Kurdish community, mainly in Iraq-Iran, speaks a very similar dialect but is certainly a separate group.


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## talmid

230509  0200

Hi!

My thanks for all replies & comments which are both interesting & helpful


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## curlyboy20

I apologize if this is off-tpoic, but is this the language that Jesus spoke?


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## origumi

Jesus is likely to have spoken the Aramaic of his time in Galilean (today's northern Israeli) accent, with certain knowledge of Hebrew - the language of the Bible.

The Aramaic discussed in this thread is modern. It's a descenent of the Babylonian Aramaic (influenced by Akkadian and Persian prior to Jesus' time), with long relations with Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Kurdish in the last 1500 years, in which it became Modern Aramaic.

The two are not mutually intellegible.


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