Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

The use of Aramaic in Jewish liturgy and sacred study has an interesting
history, all the details of which would take forever to explain. From what
I understand (and this is not my academic field), Aramaic became the
commonly spoken language of Jews in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire
and in Babylon by the late second century C.E. (I know we've already been
through this part). Interesting to note that despite the fact that many
Jews knew Greek and that many synagogue inscriptions are in Greek, it was
Aramaic that became the common Jewish language. This may be because many of
the Jews were "lower class" and not at home in Greek. Maybe because Greek
was identified with paganism and then with Christianity. And maybe because
of the influence of the Babylonian Jewish community, which did not live
within the Greek-speaking world. Aramaic remained the common language of
the Jews (and of many "non-urban" non-Jews as well) until several centuries
after the Muslim conquest (from what I know, the process of "Arabization"
of the Semitic-speaking areas of the Mid-East took longer than usually
realized). 

Despite all this, Hebrew remained the main language of prayer and study for
quite a while. All of the "proper" prayers that were composed in this
period (such as the Amidah) were (and still are) in Hebrew. The Mishnah and
many of the Midrashim are in Hebrew. Most of the liturgical poems
(Piyyutim), many of which are still used, were composed in Hebrew. Only as
late as the 5th century were such compositions as the Jerusalem and the
Babylonian Talmuds, and the Targumim, written in Aramaic. By the way, the
Ketubbah, or marriage contract, was also written in Aramaic.
During this period, several "pseudo-prayers" were composed in Aramaic, the
most famous one being the Kaddish. The origins of the Kaddish are obscure,
but it was originally used as a "declaration of God's greatness" after a
session of Torah-study. There is actually nothing in the Kaddish which
mentions the dead, the after-life and the like, and its use as a "mourner's
prayer" is much later. In the present Siddur (prayer-book), different form
of the Kaddish are recited at different times in the prayer service, mostly
as dividers between major sections of the service, some recited by the
"reader" or leader of the prayer-group, and some by any mourners who happen
to be in the group. 
Another such composition is the "Kol Nidrei" ("All the Vows"), recited on
Yom Kippur eve, which is also technically not a prayer but a declaration of
annulment of vows.

After about the 10th century, Aramaic was no longer used as a spoken
language by most Jews (though "pockets" remained for centuries). Hebrew,
the language of the Bible and of prayer, became the common language of all
Jews and the language in which most prayers, commentaries and even
"secular" correspondence was in. Local Jewish dialects, such as Yiddish and
Ladino and Judeo-Arabic also began to develop, but very little liturgy and
works of scholarship were written in these languages (although quite a few
Jewish scholars wrote in Arabic, including the Arabic targum of Saadiah
Gaon). Aramaic, the language of the Talmud and the Targumim, became a
Jewish "scholarly" language, much like Latin in the Western Christian
world. Scholars developed a pseudo-Aramaized Hebrew for use in their works,
a kind of "technical language", influenced by the Talmud rather than by any
spoken Aramaic. And such compositions as the Kaddish and Kol Nidrei, now in
a language NOT spoken by anyone, took on an air of "sacred antiquity",
their difficult language making them seem all the more holy.
The huge exception to this non-use of Aramaic was the Zohar, the basic text
of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. Modern scholars think that it was written
in 12-13th cent. Spain, although a tradition quickly developed that it was
written by the 2nd cent. Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. It is in Aramaic as well.
However, since Kabbalah was not widely practiced until the 16 century and
after that mostly only by select scholars, the Zohar was also not widely
read. The insertion of the section from the Zohar read before the reading
of the Torah and several others as well is even later than that. One common
tradition is that the Zohar was written in Aramaic so that the angels, who
apparently understand Hebrew but not Aramaic, would not be able to read it.

So, to summarize, there are no "real" prayers in Aramaic in the Jewish
prayer book. The only Aramaic section that is commonly said is the Kaddish.
There are a couple of sections from the Zohar, the Kol Nidrei on Yom
Kippur, and another short section as part of the "Selihot". There is also
the Akdemot, a long poem recited (by some) before the Torah reading on
Shavuot (the feast of Weeks or Pentecost) and one section in the Passover
Haggadah (the service for the Passover meal), inviting all to come join the
meal. And the popular poem-song "Had Gadya" ("One Lamb") sung at the end of
the meal.
There is also ONE common Shabbat dinner hymn in Aramaic (though some
communities recite additional Kabbalistic sections as well).

What has happened in recent decades, since the revival of Hebrew as a
spoken language, is that there has been some pressure to translate these
sections into Hebrew. Hebrew-language Ketubbot are very popular (I use one
at my wedding). Many Israeli prayer-books have Hebrew translations besides
the Aramaic.


Yigal


At 03:09 AM 6/26/2003 +0200, Christopher Kimball wrote:
>
>Both Hebrew and Aramaic passages appear in Jewish prayer books.  Would 
>someone offer a short list easy identifiers so that a Hebrew beginner can 
>realize he's looking at Aramaic, not Hebrew?
>
>An earlier contribution noted that the Kaddish is Aramaic with a concluding 
>Hebrew verse.  I believe the prayer preceding the removal of the Torah from 
>the ark is also in Aramaic.  Why is this, I wonder?
>
>Chris Kimball
>
>
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Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.