In our own lifetimes we may witness the death of a major 3000 year old language--Aramaic-- the ancient imperial language of the Middle East, the language of the Jewish Talmud and the spoken language used by generations of Chaldeans and Assyrians in their villages--until ISIS appeared. The Jews of Kurdistan have spoken Aramaic since the Assyrian Exile in 722, BCE, but they left Iraq for Israel in the 1950s, where they now raise Hebrew-speaking children. Even today, Chaldean and Assyrian Christians pray in Aramaic at branches of the Church of East, a church born in Turkey, Persia and Iraq. Now those in the Diaspora speak other languages. While Church missionaries once spread their religion and language all across China and down to the southern tip of India; today their territory has contracted down to a small fraction of the Middle East, where they are under existential threat.
In this book the reader meets a Chaldean great grandmother from Telkaif, Iraq, and a professional woman in Israel whose family comes from Zakho, Iraq. Their stories illustrate the rich centuries-long traditions that are at risk. Can the remaining Christians and their language be saved from extinction in their very birthplace? At least the United States must extend them an umbrella of support so they may rebuild their indigenous communities and train their own militias if they ever hope to resettle safely at home, resume their traditional way of life, and raise children who speak their language.