Mel Gibson movie "The Passion"

[Dan Gan]

Here is an interesting article I found at
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Assyrian Doctor Excited after Seeing Mel Gibson's Movie using Aramaic Language

Courtesy of the Times Reporter in Ohio
8 March 2004
By Ryan Karp

Dr. Nashat Gabrail had an advantage over other moviegoers watching Mel Gibson's ???The Passion of the Christ.??? He understood the language spoken in the film and didn't have to rely on the subtitles.
Only approximately four million people in the world speak Aramaic, the ancient, dying language spoken by Jesus and the Hebrews in ???The Passion of the Christ.??? Aramaic was the language of the time period.

Gabrail is hoping the movie, which was expected to earn more than $200 million by Sunday night, revives the Aramaic language and helps to educate people to its history.

???It's very exciting to see a moving picture for the first time in Aramaic,??? he said. ???I was impressed by the actors. They really learned it.???

Gabrail, an oncologist who has a practice in Dover and is a resident of Stark County, is of Assyrian Christian descent, original natives of Mesopotamia, the current Iraq. His native language is Aramaic.

Gabrail was born in Iraq and left in 1981 to teach in Scotland. He arrived in the United States in 1984 and briefly taught at the University of Missouri before relocating to Stark County in 1990. He opened Gabrail Cancer Center in Dover in 2000.

Gabrail said the dialect of Aramaic was so ancient in ???The Passion of the Christ??? that even he had to use the subtitles occasionally, but he said the language was completely accurate.

???I went in with an open mind to criticize, but I didn't see anything. Mel Gibson should be complimented for what he did. He took Scripture and translated it in an honest way into a movie.???

While 4,000,000 people in the world still speak Aramaic, only 200,000 can read it and write it. Gabrail is one of those 200,000.

He said the language diminished because of the dying Assyrian identity, which was denied under the Iraqi government and rulers of Iraq like Saddam Hussein. As time passed, the Aramaic language became spoken less and less. Assyrians were not allowed to speak it in public and were not taught it in schools. They learned it through family and church.

???Before Saddam was removed from power, we were not even allowed to say we were Assyrians,??? said Gabrail. ???Most Iraqis are Assyrian, they just don't know it.???

Gabrail lived under Hussein's leadership for a time when he lived in Iraq. He was not surprised when Hussein was captured and knew it would be a turning point in Iraq.

Now that Hussein is gone, Gabrail hopes they can teach Aramaic in schools again.

The Aramaic language has been kept alive because of the Assyrians' religious faith. The church insisted that the language of prayer and mass remain Aramaic. However, Gabrail thinks it should not have to rely on the church.

???We want our identity intact based on rights, so individuals can say who they are,??? he said.

Gabrail said the United States is concerned about preserving the identity of the Assyrians because the majority of Iraqis are trying to insert the word Islam in the new Iraqi constitution, something Assyrians do not like because they are Christians. Paul Bremmer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, is a supporter of the Assyrians and is trying to prevent this.

Gabrail also said Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois wrote a letter to Bush signed by members of Congress. The letter asked the Bush administration to protect the Assyrians' rights.

President Bush recognized preserving the Assyrians' identity in a recent speech he gave. Gabrail said he was excited by the statement.

???The most powerful man in the United States recognized us,??? he said. ???It was like the Fourth of July. We celebrated.???

Gabrail works to preserve the Aramaic language in his own life and to educate others about it. He teaches it to his children. His son Michael, 14, is learning it online.

Gabrail speaks Aramaic with his mother and sister, who still live in Iraq, and other family members.

To bring Assyrian health professionals together, Gabrail established the Assyrian Medical Society.

???The idea is that everyone of us are trying our best to maintain this identity,??? he said.


So most Iraqis are actually Assyrians, they just don't know it. Just like the Egyptians who lost their identity after the Islamization of the Middle East.