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Today Aramaic is spoken among about 500,000 native speakers[1] (with varying degrees of fluency) in scattered communities across the Fertile Crescent. There are 15,000 speakers in three Syrian villages in the Qalamoun Mountains north of Damascus (Ma'aloula, Bakh`a, Jubb`adin), but most speakers live in the area often termed Kurdistan in English, from Lake Urmia to Hakkari - and even in the USA by Syriacs (also known as Assyro-ChaldeansAssyro-Chaldeans are a Semitic people from Northern Iraq and Southern Turkey. Historically they centered around the village of Tel Keppe (or Tal Kayf), located near Mosul, Iraq. They predate the Islamic opening, being descended from the original inhabitan and Maronites) immigrants from this area. A few live in Mesopotamia proper (called in Aramaic BethnahrinBethnahrin is the Aramaic word for Mesopotamia (a Greek word), which is the land between the rivers Frot and Deqlath ( Euphrates and Tigris). The indigenous inhabitants of northern Bethnahrin are the Arameans/ Assyrians (both of which spoke, and sometimes).

Aramaic is used in many JewThe word Jew is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to either a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or a member of the Jewish culture or ethnicity. This article discusses the term as describing an ethnic group; for aish holy texts and some Jewish prayers. Some of the parts of the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible refers to the common portions of the Jewish and Christian canons. It is a bias-free term that is preferred to both Tanakh and Old Testament when discussing the text in academic writing. 3 of the Style Manual for the Society of Biblical Litera (two words in Genesis 31:47, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4b-7:28, and Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26,) and the ZoharThe Zohar ( Hebrew Zohar "Splendor, radiance") is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah (five books of Moses), written in medieval Aramaic and medieval Hebrew. It contains a mysti are written in Aramaic, and so is most of the KaddishFor the poem by Allen Ginsberg, please see Kaddish (poem Kaddish is a collective term, used to refer to four different prayers in Judaism, although by itself, the term is often used to refer specifically to "The Mourner's Kaddish". When mention is made of prayer. Most of the GemaraThe Gemara are the Rabbinical commentaries and analysis on the Mishnah, undertaken in the Academies of Palestine and Babylon over a 300 year period to about 500CE. The Mishnah is the core text, and the gemara is the analysis and commentary which “complete section of the Babylonian TalmudThe Talmud is considered an authoritative record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories. It is a fundamental source of legislation, customs, case histories and moral exhortations. The Talmud comprises two compon is written in Eastern Aramaic, while comparable sections in the Jerusalem Talmud are written in Western Aramaic.

Aramaic is divided into two groups: Western and Eastern.

• Western - this group is extinct as a spoken language and included Nabataean (extinct, spoken in parts of Arabia), Palmyrenean (extinct, spoken in Palmyra, Syria and adjoining regions), and Palestinian-Christian and Judeo-Aramean. A Western Aramaic dialect was the spoken language in Roman Judea in Jesus's time, as quotes given in the Greek Gospels show[2].

Example: Matthew 27:46 - ηλι ηλι λαμα σαβαχθανι (/eli eli lama sabachthani/, later Aramaic "E-lee e-lee l-maa saa-baach-taa-nee?"; translated as "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?")

(The famous last words of Jesus in his native tongue, Aramaic. The above translation is standard, but disputed by people like Aramaic scholars Rocco Errico and the late George Lamsa, who claim that the word "lama" is a mistake in transcription, that the actual word is "lamana," giving: an alternate translation: "My God, My God, for such a purpose have you kept me!" (Errico notes that the difference between the two statements is substantial, and casts a very different light on the last words of Jesus.)

A few religious groups such as the monks of Mar Sarkis and some isolated followers of the Assyrian Church still use languages of this group for liturgical purposes. Rev. William Fulco reconstructed the Aramaic of Jesus for the film script of The Passion of the Christ ( 2004).

• Eastern - this group includes Syriac, Mandaic, and Neo-Assyrian (not Akkadian Assyrian) dialects/languages. Some of these are still spoken in a few villages in Syria, notably Ma'loula, Qamishli, etc., Lebanon, Iraq, Georgia, USA, Australia, Canada, Armenia, etc. Some Jewish speakers of Aramaic have immigrated to Israel and Los Angeles. The Jews are most likely of Assyrian heritage, but adopted the Jewish faith. There is an annual convention of native Aramaic speakers in Los Angeles. The Aramaic version of the Christian Bible is in the Syriac dialect, and a sample can be found in the article on the Lord's Prayer.

Many linguists are currently working on modern spoken Aramaic, such as Geoffrey Khan , Yona Sabar , and Otto Jastrow . A professor at the University of California, Los Angeles is currently working on a dictionary of modern spoken Aramaic.

See also Aramaic alphabet.

See also Aramaic names.