First, it's been a while since we've seen an article on Maaloula (Ma'aloula, Malula, Ma'lula). Here's one from DayPress: Maalula.. Where Jesus' language Aramaic lives on in Syrian village. Most of what it says has been covered before, but here's a little new information:
Elsewhere in Syria, where Christians comprise nearly 10 percent of the population, even the ancient churches conduct services in Arabic. But finding the alphabets and script of Aramaic are not a lost cause, efforts are on at both individual and state level to resurrect the language in which Jesus probably spoke to Lazarus to wake up and walk with him.I wish one of the articles would give a clearer update on the status of that government institute, which at least for a while was shelved on idiotic anti-Semitic grounds. Background on that and on Maaloula in general is here and links.
The government has funded an institute to revive the written Aramaic and to teach the younger generation this sacred tongue.
George Rizkallah, a 65-year-old retired local schoolteacher, has started a school to teach local children the ancient language. He is finding new ways to resuscitate the language and has been composing Aramaic songs. The language will survive, but we need to find ways to preserve this ancient tongue, he said.
According to Yona Sabar, a professor of Semitic languages at the University of California, Los Angeles, the three villages [Malula, Bakhaa, and Jabaadeen] represent 'the last Mohicans' of Western Aramaic, spoken by Jesus in Palestine two millennia ago.
Malula is a microcosm of this multi-religious mosaic of a country embroiled in international headlines for being the new epicenter of Arab Spring-like protests against the long-standing regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Walking around amid proud believers and the keeper of an ancient legacy amid exhilarating mountain air, one would not know that barely a few kilometers away in Homs, the government forces are battling out protesters in a fierce battle for power.
Second, Haaretz has an article by Eli Ashkenazi on Telling the story of Aramaic-speaking farmers in the Jordan Valley. A center for Kurdish culture will illustrate a missing chapter in the history of agricultural settlement in Israel. These are Kurdish immigrants at the Yardena moshav, who are working to preserve their traditional language and culture.
[Resident Gadi] Yehuda acknowledges that over the years the moshav acquired "the image of an underprivileged community compared to the surrounding kibbutzim. There were those who saw us as dumb Kurds, some of whose parents were illiterate, while the parents of the kibbutz children went on missions in service of the state." When in the mid 1970s he began studying in the first class of children from Yardena to study with kibbutz children, he experienced many scuffles before developing warm friendships with those same kibbutzniks.
With the decrease in population - "our parents would have 10 children, while we have only three," notes Yehuda - the school has closed its doors. After some renovation, the same building now houses an exhibit of items depicting the history of the community, a photo collection and a place to hear stories of the early days. Volunteers from the moshav teach visitors a traditional dance, speak in the disappearing Aramaic language and bake Kurdish bread with them. The moshav members are also planning to open a Kurdish restaurant and an art gallery and perhaps bed-and-breakfast accommodation as well.