Let’s Begin Here
What Are We About?
These are the questions we seek to address:
- What do we need to live in peace, harmony, justice, joy, and love?
- Can exploring the meaning of Jesus’s words in Aramaic help restore our world to balance and well-being?
- The teachings of Jesus clearly state “These things I have done, you shall do and more.” Our times invite us all to accept this challenge. How do we do this?
The Aramaic words of Jesus (Eshoa in Aramaic), understood within his historical and cultural context, unfettered by dogma and theological concepts, are simple: look to God (sacred unity), love, forgive, share, flex, heal, give thanks, enjoy. Peace and justice on earth would manifest quickly and easily if we humans take to heart and mind these simple teachings. Understood from the Middle Eastern perspective, the words and actions of Eshoa support and encourage the same basic teachings of every other major world faith, and could be a rallying point for all peoples. Then as a species we could focus our creativity and resources on improving the human condition, and the health of our ecosphere.
This Site Offers
- Revelatory material from Aramaic studies — such as lists of idioms and expressions in Aramaic that make great sense when not taken literally and can now help us appreciate our ancestor Eshoa in a new light. See the work of Dr. George Lamsa and Dr. Rocco Errico for foundational scholarship.
- Simple chants in Aramaic and in English to carry the words of Eshoa from head to heart — including albums by Tomas and Rachmana
- Poems and essays to inspire, delight, and educate (in the sense of the Latin word “educare” — to bring forth from within you). Explore the writings of our interpreters.
- Links to books and tapes on the meanings of Jesus’s words in Aramaic, relevant articles, and materials we are creating to share with you
- Ways to connect with us through email or in person
The teachings of Jesus in Aramaic give us many practical and powerful tools. All we have to do is utilize them. Browse our image gallery and video collection for visual explorations of these themes.
In the Future We Plan to Offer
- Selections from various books that informed and excited our minds and hearts, in hopes that the byproduct of our reading can be passed to you in a form that readily offers benefits and blessings
- A Circle of Sharing where we invite you to share your stories, visions, comments, feelings, thoughts, ideas, needs, gifts, and prayers so we can evolve as quickly and easily as possible, building on each other’s awakenings and together exploring the infinite potential within us all
In the Middle East, this tradition of exploring together was/is called midrash, and it is one of the keys to keeping our spiritual life juicy, informed, and exciting. All we know is our experience. And we hope, in time, that you will share yours.
Peace be with you. Shlama al’khon.
Please feel free to write to hello@aramaicjesus.org
Frequently Asked Questions
What is midrash?
Midrash is a Middle Eastern tradition of communal exploration and interpretation of sacred texts. Rather than accepting a single authoritative reading, midrash invites participants to discuss, question, and discover new meanings together. This site embraces the spirit of midrash — offering its explorations as invitations to shared discovery rather than fixed doctrine.
What does this site mean by “repairing the self and world”?
The concept draws from the Jewish tradition of “tikkun olam” — repairing the world. The site’s premise is that recovering the original Aramaic words of Jesus can help heal the distortions that centuries of mistranslation have introduced into how we understand his teachings. This personal and collective healing is what the site means by “repairing the self and world.”
How are the teachings of Jesus connected to other faiths?
Since the languages at the heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all Semitic, their core spiritual vocabulary often shares the same two- or three-letter roots. Exploring these roots reveals that the essential messages — love, peace, justice, forgiveness — are remarkably consistent across all three traditions. Jesus’s Aramaic words, understood in their original context, affirm rather than contradict the teachings of other Abrahamic faiths.
b’shlama · b’shalom · salam