ARAMAIC WATCH:

Where the language of Jesus stars on football field
Sheera Frenkel in Jish (London Times)

In a small church north of Nazareth a group of children are reinventing the spoken tongue of Jesus Christ.

“Hallelujah, blessed be the Lord,” yells out one boy, 7, in Aramaic, in a manner that would not disgrace a rap artist. Near by a girl clutching a pink bag copies down the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic script, dotting her lines with tiny hearts.

Scholars believe that Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount on the rolling hills surrounding this church. Two thousand years later these students are the newest members of the Christian Maronite community who have decided to reinstate Aramaic as their daily spoken language.

Maronites study the language to understand religious texts but in the village of Jish Aramaic is returning as the language of the common man.

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