A Maaloula short

MODERN ARAMAIC WATCH: Remote village still speaks same Aramaic that Jesus did. With only about half a million speakers worldwide, this ancient language that has existed since at least the 11th century BC is almost extinct. (Sarah Robsdottir, Aleitea).

A popular reel about an out-of-the-way village in Syria where a small portion of the residents still speak what linguists believe to be the specific Aramaic dialect that Jesus spoke is catching a lot of attention on social media. With over 234,000 "likes" and 12,000 comments, the informational short by @AuthenticTraveling is certainly resonating with its audience.

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The bold-font emphasis is theirs. To say "the specific Aramaic dialect that Jesus spoke" is overly precise, but it is true that Maaloula preserves a Western dialect of Aramaic which is of the same general type as ancient Palestinian Aramaic, in contrast to Eastern Aramaic, notably Syriac.

I am pleased to hear from the clip that Maaloula continues to recover from the ravages of war.

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