Learn Aramaic

From Baghdad to San Diego, Sabri Shamoun lives the American Dream Sabri Shamoun, 74, in the law offices of RJS LAW in Downtown San Diego, where he is an adviser. Sabri Shamoun, a 74-year-old Chaldean American, grew the earnings from a small grocery store in Detroit into a profitable real estate venture in San Diego that has made him millions and secured the financial futures of his family and many others through his generosity. Sabri Shamoun with his daughter, Renae Arabo, and son, Ronsom Shamoun. Shamoun’s real estate holdings, assembled by him since moving here from Detroit in 1972, include commercial and residential properties around San Diego County, from Normal Heights to Chula Vista to El Cajon and beyond. He is a gregarious man, but not one to boast about his earnings, though one can properly say that he is a self-made millionaire. Through a keen knowledge of real estate, he has been able to multiply the value of his holdings many times over, as in the case, for example...

In the Gospel of John the Aramaic terms  Βηθεσδά ,  Γαββαθᾶ ,  Γολγοθᾶ ,  Ῥαββουνί  are called “Hebrew.”Aramaic, too, must be meant by the “Hebrew tounge” in which Paul spoke to the people of Jerusalem (Acts 21:40, 22:2), and in which Jesus spoke to Paul (Acts 26:14). According to Acts 6:1,  Ἑλληνισταί  and  Ἑβραῖοι  were the names of the two parts of the Jewish people as divided by language, although  Συρισταί  would have been the more precise counterpart of  Ἑλληνισταί . But if it was possible to characterize Aramaic as “Hebrew,” it is clear that Aramaic was the everyday speech of the Jewish people at this period, in so far, at least, as it was not Greek. Josephus, indeed showed himself (Ant. X.i.2,  XII. ii. 1) quite capable of distinguishing the language and written character of the “Syrians” from those of the “Hebrews.” And yet between Hebrew and Aramaic words he makes no difference. According to Anti. I. i. 1, ...