Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Update Your Facebook Status — In Ancient Aramaic!

Facebook users are always looking for ways to make their statuses stand out on the uber-popular social network. One user has put a unique spin on the quest for original updates, tapping into the ancient Semitic language of Aramaic to create an entire page in the Canaanite tongue.

And now, the person running a new page dubbed “Status B’Aramaic” (Status in Aramaic) is looking for likes.

“Anyone can post a status and like this page,” the Facebook page announces in Aramaic, the primary language of the Talmud and a close relative of ancient Hebrew. Unlike the millennia-old language in which it is written, “Status in Aramaic” is only two weeks old. Since March 2, it has accumulated more than 2,000 followers.

The person running the page prefers to remain anonymous, but says he is a young man about to begin his army service. Although he learned Aramaic in his Talmud classes, the content of his Facebook page is significantly more modern.

He said he thought it would be amusing to see Facebook in Aramaic, and set about making it so. His idea was simple: To take “statuses that appear on Facebook, which include well-known poems and fliers advertising films, and present them in a satirical manner in Aramaic,” he says.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.