Much of the Talmud, such important prayers as kaddish, and various other sacred Jewish texts are written in Aramaic, once the lingua franca of much of the Middle East. Another dialect of the language is used in the Syrian Christian liturgy. Neither rabbis nor Syrian priests have much opportunity to use the tongue in conversation—but, as Jonathan Sacerdoti notes, there are exceptions. The coronation of Charles III was one:
Britain’s Sephardi leader Rabbi Joseph Dweck has revealed he chatted to the archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Aramaic—the language spoken by Jesus—as they were waiting for the coronation to begin. Rabbi Dweck, who sat next to the archbishop during the service, added that the Christian leader was “asking me more about Orthodox Judaism, which was interesting.”
The senior rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation, Britain’s oldest Jewish community, described the mood there as “buoyant and joyful.” . . . Rabbi Dweck was seated with other faith leaders in the North Transept [of Westminster Abbey]. “And I was sitting in front of [the former archbishop of Canterbury], Rowan Williams, so we spoke about him studying Biblical Hebrew.”
Rabbi Dweck said: “The anointing itself comes directly from the Bible, from Torah. The archbishop blessed the king with the birkat kohanim (the priestly blessing) after he crowned him.”
Read more on Jewish Chronicle: https://www.thejc.com/news/news/the-coronation-smalltalk-it-was-in-aramaic-reveals-rabbi-dweck-1hmFhUkerD8VfCkAVAthWA