Galilean dialect in the context of "Jerusalem Talmud"

Western Neo-Aramaic (ܐܰܪܳܡܰܝ, arōmay, "Aramaic"), also referred to as Siryon (ܣܪܝܘܢ, siryōn, "Syriac"), is a modern variety of the Western Aramaic branch consisting of three closely related dialects. Today, it is spoken by Christian and Muslim Arameans (Syriacs) in only three villages— Maaloula, Jubb'adin and Bakhʽa—in the Anti-Lebanon mountains of western Syria. Bakhʽa was vastly destroyed during the Syrian civil war and most of the community fled to other parts of Syria or Lebanon. Western Neo-Aramaic is believed to be the closest living language to the language of Jesus, whose first language, according to scholarly consensus, was Galilean Aramaic belonging to the Western branch as well; all other remaining Neo-Aramaic languages are Eastern Aramaic.

There exists a consensus among scholars that Jesus spoke Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language of Roman Judaea, and was thus also spoken by at least some of Jesus' disciples.

The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where the Gospels record him as having been raised, were populated by Aramaic-speaking communities. Jesus probably spoke the Galilean dialect, distinguishable from that which was spoken in Roman-era Jerusalem. Galilee was known for its trade routes and for its interface with the wider spectrum of Hellenism; Matthew 4:15 references "Galilee of the Gentiles". As such, the Gospels understand Jesus' youth in Nazareth to be in a highly cosmopolitan area in which Greek was used frequently, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the meeting of several major trade routes in Sepphoris. It is thus likely that Jesus was able to work in Koine Greek.

Jewish Aramaic was a Western Aramaic language spoken by the Jews during the Classic Era in Judea and the Levant, specifically in Hasmonean, Herodian and Roman Judaea and adjacent lands in the late first millennium BCE, and later in Syria Palaestina and Palaestina Secunda in the early first millennium CE. This language is sometimes called Galilean Aramaic, although that term more specifically refers to its Galilean dialect.

The most notable text in the Jewish Western Aramaic corpus is the Jerusalem Talmud, which is still studied in Jewish religious schools and academically, although not as widely as the Babylonian Talmud, most of which is written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. There are some older texts in Jewish Western Aramaic, notably the Megillat Taanit: the Babylonian Talmud contains occasional quotations from these. Dead Sea Scroll 4Q246, found in Qumran, is written in this language as well.