Syriac: a Life-Long Passion (And Madness)

SYRIAC: A LIFE-LONG PASSION (AND MADNESS)

BY GEORGE KIRAZ

Martino Diez and George Kiraz Beth the in Mardutho office

WWW.OASISCENTER.EU From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Dot-com crash, George Kiraz has consecrated his life to the promotion of the Syriac culture. With ecumenical repercussions

Interview by Martino Diez In 1984 I took my first computer program- Beth Mardutho, Piscataway (NJ) ming course and I told my professor that I July 2, 2019 wanted to create a program to write Syriac. “It’s difficult,” he answered me, but two years In the introduction to your New Syriac Pri- later I eventually succeeded in developing a mer you write that “Syriac can be a passion (or font with Multi-lingual scholar, a DOS-based madness!), not just a language” (p. xx). Where program. We used to go to the Society of Bib- does this passion come from? lical Literature to show the software and sell it to scholars, because it worked with Syriac, When I was a little child in Bethlehem, my Arabic and Hebrew. And on one of these oc- father used to send my sisters and me to study casions I was invited to present the program Syriac with the local priest. And of course, to the Symposium Syriacum in Louvain, in kids don’t like to do extra-work in the sum- Belgium. It was 1988 and I gave a talk at the mer… My father used to give us conference. But more importantly, I met Se- 2,5 qurūsh (piasters) as a weekly allowance bastian Brock: I remember talking to him, ex- for studying Syriac, with that sum you could plaining that I had been working on Syriac for just buy an ice cream! Later, however, my the Church and the preservation of heritage, father told me that the priest had asked if I but I wanted to do it on an academic level. He could join the gudo, the liturgical choir. This invited me to apply to a program in Oxford implied to learn more Syriac and that’s where and I got accepted. There was actually a the passion began. Of course everybody in the misunderstanding about the timing, because I church was saying to me “good boy”, shātir, wanted to finish my bachelor first, but in the maybe this had also its weight at the begin- end I moved to Oxford in 1990 and I did the ning. Then the passion turned into madness. Master’s degree. My plan was to take just one year off, do my master’s degree, and then re- A madness which was to fully manifest itself in turn back to the US and get a job as an engi- the US… neer. But after a week I realized that I was going to stay, I liked it. And that was the I finished high school in Beit Jala in 1983. Im- point where everything flipped. mediately after, I moved to Los Angeles with my mom, reaching my sister who was already A deep interest in heritage preservation was living in the US. I attended college there: not new to your family. If I am not mistaken, electrical engineering, so typical of Middle the Dead Sea Scrolls were kept in your father’s Eastern boys!

1 house for some weeks shortly after their disco- rest of the story is in my father’s memoirs, ver… which I have edited.

Yes, my father was a friend of Bishop Samuel It looks like you were predestinated to work [1] in Jerusalem and in 1947, when the scrolls on manuscripts … Was your family native of had just been discovered, Samuel bought Bethlehem? them. At some point the Bishop got in need of some funds and he called my father telling No, my family comes from Harput in him that there was a Jewish antiquarian who Southern Anatolia, a town between was ready to buy the scrolls. According to my Diyarbakır and Malatya. After the 1915 ge- father—but there is a dispute on this story, as nocide, many Syriac survivors fled to Adana, with whatever relates to the Dead Sea which was under French control, after the Scrolls— he advised the Bishop not to sell capitulation of the Ottoman Empire. The them and figure out how much they were French opened orphanages and schools for the worth. My father provided the funds to Sa- survivors, but they were defeated by the Ke- muel, they became partners in the scrolls and malist troops and in 1922 they were forced to he took them to our house. leave. Syriacs and Armenians, who had just endured the genocide, did not want to remain Sometime before, my father had got to know under Turkish rule and went South, to Le- Eleazar Suke- banon. And in our case, to Bethlehem. THE SCROLLS nik, the famous REMAINED IN OUR Israeli archaeo- Coming back to you: among your many achie- HOUSE FOR SOME logist, while vements, you have founded a publishing MONTHS, UNTIL building a house, Gorgias Press, which has made a name BISHOP SAMUEL house in Jeru- for itself for the quality of its publications. Was DECIDED TO SHOW THEM TO JOHN salem in the this project there from the start? TREVER days of the Bri- tish Mandate. No, it is a late development, and accidental. Having found a cave with some remains in it, After finishing my PhD, I started to work at he had called the Palestinian antiquity depart- Bell Labs: they used to belong to AT&T and ment for inquiries. They had sent Sukenik that’s where American research in technolo- and thus they had get to know each other. gies used to be carried out: at Bell Labs they Therefore my father decided to take the discovered the laser, they created the UNIX Scrolls to Sukenik. Troubles had already be- operating system, the C: programming langu- gan and they met in the no-man’s land at the age… They used to license about 1.5 patents YMCA. The scrolls remained in our house for every day! It was a scientific powerhouse, some months, until Bishop Samuel decided to controlling all telecommunications in the US, show them to John Trever, of the American before the government split the company be- Schools of Oriental Researches (ASOR). The cause it had grown too big. At any rate, I was

2 in the research department there, which was plummeted down from around 200 dollars really good because I was doing undirected each to 30 dollars, in one day. Among the five research. You were allowed to do whatever companies that had offered me a job, four you wanted, like at the Institute for Advanced went out of business in less than a week. Study. And you had a managerial level salary, Everything was lost, including my job. I de- which is really good too. Syriac was always on cided that I did not want to work for another the side, but in the late 1990s I realized that I company. wanted it to become the main thing. At that point there was the Dot-com bubble, I don’t It was at this point that Christine and I know if you have heard about it. I talked to thought of establishing Gorgias Press; and bit Christine, my wife, and told her that I wanted by bit it grew out. Later on, we took advan- to quit Bell Labs, join one of the new start- tage of the 2008 housing crash to buy the pro- ups, work hard for three, four years, collect perty we are in now. Initially it was planned the millions and endow Beth Mardutho (‘The as an office for Gorgias Press, but when I saw House of Knowledge’), the Institute for Syriac the room whe- Studies which my wife and I have founded. re we are sit- EVERYTHING WAS At the time Beth Mardutho was already exis- ting now I rea- LOST, INCLUDING ting, but it was only on paper: we wanted to lized that it MY JOB.IT WAS AT make it a real place. was perfect for THIS POINT THAT Beth CHRISTINE AND I Thus I quit Bell Labs and within a month I got Mardutho. We THOUGHT OF five job offers, all trying to outcompete each put poor Gor- ESTABLISHING other. Eventually I went to a speech techno- gias in the GORGIAS PRESS logy company from the Silicon Valley. They basement, re- wanted somebody to open a New York office. serving the best area for Beth Mardutho. We I got an office in Wall Street for them, which moved my private books here too, they make impressed them a lot. We hired staff and up the vast majority of what you see here. everything looked very promising. They were And that’s what we have now. paying in stock options and the stocks started to go up and up. On paper, at least, we could By the way, where does the name Gorgias co- see the six figures… I reckoned that in four me from? From Gorgias the sophist? And why years I would have a million aside to endow this choice? Beth Mardutho. Nine months into it, in March 2000, there was Well, we were convinced that if we open a the Dot-com crash. Most of the companies did press concentrating on Eastern Christianity not have any products, it was all about ideas alone, there will be no market for it. We and at some point the marked crashed. Stocks thought we had to work in classics too. We

3 poked for names and I came across Gorgias, the whole thing except the Princeton Theolo- which sounded like my name… gical Seminary. But the Seminary Library had rebound the volumes so tightly that it was im- Exactly! possible to scan them. At any rate, we finally managed to get copies of all the volumes from … and it sounded classic too. That’s why we different people: it was a real co-operative ef- picked up the name. But we utterly failed in fort. classics, because it is not our field of expertise. We have become known for Eastern Christia- The project I like most in Arabic was the re- nity, Syriac, more recently Arabic, Islamic print of al-Tabarī’s universal history, Tārīkh and Judaica… everything except classics! ar-rusul wa-l-mulūk, in the De Goeje’s edition, with the title on the spine, as it is custo- What are the achievements you are most mary in the Middle East. And now we are proud of, in terms of books published by Gor- working on an ambitious project about the so- gias? called Syriac Masora, the philological study of the Syriac Bible. Again, everything started with an accident! When we opened Gorgias, I contacted some And what about Michael the Syrian? scholars at a Peshitta conference in Leiden in The Chronicles of Michael the Syrian 2001 and many of them accepted to write books for us. But I realized that it would take Oh yes, this too is an interesting story! We some years before the books were ready and have one single Syriac manuscript preserving we had to survive in the meanwhile. So I Michael’s historical masterwork: it is a 16th- went through my library and picked twelve century manuscript which was originally kept old out-of-copyright books which I knew pe- in Edessa and was brought to Aleppo after the ople would like to have on their shelves. You genocide. The French Orientalist Jean- must go back and think of a time when there Baptiste Chabot, who first published Micha- was no archive.org, no Google Books. The re- el’s Chronicle between 1899 and 1910, had a prints became a hit and we started to receive copy made for him, but was never able to ac- orders. And for the first five years, that was quire the original. I wanted to publish in a the business. single work Chabot’s translation, the Arme- nian summary and the Garshuni [Arabic writ- This experience gave me the idea of reprin- ten in Syriac script] versions, but unfor- ting the 5-volume Bedjan edition of Jacob of tunately the main plate, the Syriac text, Serugh. Later on, Sebastian Brock added a would have to be a reproduction of Chabot’s sixth volume. In my view, this is one of our copy, since the Aleppo Syriac community was biggest achievements, because nobody had not allowing to photograph their unique ma- the whole set of the five volumes. I had a vo- nuscript. They used to keep it in a safe with lume, Sebastian Brock had two, nobody had three different keys, one with the Bishop and

4 the two other with two laymen: only if the Obviously, there is no comparison possible in three came together at the same time, the safe terms of victims, but the scale of the blow could be opened. might be similar. In 1915 the Syriac community in Anatolia was almost annihilated and Since I knew it would be close to his heart, I the survivors moved South and settled in se- presented the project to H.E. Hanna Ibrahim, veral Arab countries. Between 1915 and now, the Syriac Bishop of Aleppo, telling him how there has been the Arab-Israeli conflict, unfortunate it was to have to rely on Chabot’s which emptied most of the Palestinian areas, copy. The way I presented the thing and then the Lebanese civil war. From 2003 on- perhaps the possibility of becoming an editor wards it was the turn of Iraq and a huge in the volume excited him and he said: “No, amount of people left from there too. The last George, we will find a way!”. He talked to the stable country was Syria. I am not questioning people and managed to convince them. the fact that it was under a regime and a dictatorship, but the Christian community The thing required a huge amount of funding, there was flourishing. With the Syria war, which I was able to collect thanks to a bene- many have left and now you probably have factor. Initially we thought of hiring a local more people in the diaspora than in the Midd- photographer, but then we chose to rely on le East. the HMML people[2], who were already per- forming a digitalization project in Aleppo. The problem of the diaspora is that people Everything came together and eventually we cannot survive as culturally distinct from the organized a conference in Aleppo to celebrate mainstream for more than a few generations, the digitalization of the manuscript: it was that’s a matter of fact. Syriac immigrants be- just two years before Syria went into troubles. gan coming to the US in the 1880s and then after 1915 in much larger numbers. Only a The name of Bishop Hanna Ibrahim leads im- few of their descendants are still members of mediately to a tragic present, since he is one of our community, the others have merged in the three Bishops kidnapped by ISIS. From the the mainstream American society. I am sure outside, it might seem that Syriac studies are they are somewhere, but if they are not active made for the sake of the past, but in reality in our parishes, they are no longer part of the there is a living community behind it. How do Syriac community, they may not even know you see the present situation of the Christians that they belong to it. and specifically the Syriac community in the Middle East? Is there any future for them the- In the Middle East you do not have to go to re? church to be suryānī [Syriac]. If you do not get married, you may enter the church only The Syrian crisis was a big blow to the Syriac twice, for your baptism and for your funeral! community. Time will tell, but it could be as Still, you would still be a suryānī, everybody devastating a blow as the 1915 genocide. know you are suryānī, you know you

5 are suryānī. That is not the case in the US or things that work for both aspects and some- Europe. If you are not practicing, especially if times they overlap, but not always. there is no community around, you disappear. Because of the nature of Europe, and the fact According to the French scholar Olivier Roy, that the melting pot there is slower than in many people today are looking for personali- the US, the communities may survive longer, zed forms of religiosity which are disconnected maybe for 3 or 4 generations, but the end- from a specific cultural heritage. This may also result is the same. In the United States, our help explain, in his opinion, the success of Sa- Church, since the 1880s and until today, has lafism in Islam, because it is a Scripture-based always been a church of immigrants. By now movement which does not pay attention to it should be a Church of Syriac Americans, local traditions. The Syriac Church is, so to but as new immigrants come, the older gene- say, the opposite: it is inextricably bound to rations are pushed out, so to speak, and they the culture which it has shaped down to the disappear. Now, the spring from which the minutest details. Can this tradition, through immigrants are coming is going to dry up very appropriate initiatives, withstand the trend soon. What will happen? We are talking towards simplification or does it simply require about a total disappearance of Syriac culture: too much study for the common people? It may take 50 years, 100 years, but this is the trend. And meanwhile the problems in the It’s a big challenge. As we said, in the Middle Middle East are far from being solved. East you are suryānī culturally. You don’t have to go to church. This sad note leads me to the next question. Apart from your professional activity, you are But the other side of the coin is that in the Mi- a Deacon in the Syriac Orthodox Church. How ddle East, if you are not born a suryānī, you do you see your mission in the US? Is it only cannot become it, especially if you are not a about preserving the past? Is it addressed to an Christian. ethnic or linguistic community? Correct. And even if you do change, you My work has two sides: Syriac study in itself, are suryānī by extension. The problem at any in which case I am dealing mostly with non- rate is the trend to individualism and the big Syriac heritage people. It’s a bit unfortunate, question for us is how to keep the youth in we would love to have more Syriac heritage the community. People think there is a magic people into Syriac studies, but you know, formula, but there isn’t any. It is a very com- everybody has to become an engineer… This plex issue, because if you try to provide what part of my work consumes more than half of most people want, there is no point in having my time. On the other hand, there are the ac- a Syriac church, they might as well go to the tivities within the community, trying to pre- next Evangelical church. serve the language and the culture. I try to do

6 Our heritage is a triangle with three vertices: up Jesus in two different realities. This gro- Bible, Church Fathers and Tradition. Bible by wing awareness has paved the way to some itself doesn’t work; nor do Church Fathers or common Christological declarations and a slow Tradition. To make a Syriac church, you need ecumenical path. Do you think that this path the three. We already see in our American could lead somewhere in the near future? And communities a concentration on Bible and could it answer the question about how to Bible only: it has now beco- keep the youth within the Syriac tradition? me munzal (‘revealed without human inter- vention’), a notion alien to our history. We The path is very slow, and annoyingly slow. see more sermons and less liturgy, because the There are pros and cons to everything. The latter is too long and in Syriac. If this is the pros to unity is that we will exist in the fu- trend, then just go to the next-door Evangeli- ture, because otherwise there is too much cal church, they do a better job. The question fragmentation. The disadvantage in unions, at the end is simple: Do you want Syriac heri- for the minority, is that it could easily end up tage or not? Most people among us do not un- being swallowed up. Imagine a complete uni- derstand or appreciate the heritage. And even on between the Roman Catholic Church and if you try to explain it to them, it is difficult to the Syriac Orthodox Church: the sizes are so grasp it, if you have not grown up with it. Mi- incomparable that there will be no future for ne is not an ethical judgement: the dude ente- us: whatever is left of the Syriac heritage will ring the next-door Evangelical church may be be consumed and assimilated. Maybe a better a better Christian than me, and I am a deacon. avenue, which is mostly, although not totally, But Syriac Christianity is a religion of culture. achieved with the Roman Catholic Church, is Take the cul- to have agreements that allow for inter- OUR HERITAGE IS A ture away, the- sacramentality, but keeping the identity, li- TRIANGLE WITH re is no Syriac turgy and practices of the minority church. THREE VERTICES: Christianity. BIBLE, CHURCH In my case, I drive one hour on the highway FATHERS AND This leads me every Sunday to go to church, in Northern TRADITION to the last Jersey. Next year my daughter is going to col- point. The Syriac Church is, as you say, a tradi- lege in Southern Jersey and she is going to ask tion-based Church. In the world there are the university if she can have a car, because other tradition-based Churches, especially the sometimes she would like to go to church and Catholic and the Byzantine Orthodox. The the closest churches for her are Philadelphia split notoriously originated in Calcedonia in and Northern Jersey. If we have a total union, 451 CE and 1500 years later, I think it is fair to people would say: “The Catholic church is acknowledge that those who were against Cal- next to me, why should I drive one hour?”. cedonia were not believing that Christ’s divini- That is what would kill the minority church. ty had absorbed his humanity and those who It is all about how to make a union with the were in favor of Calcedonia were not splitting preservation of the culture of the minority

7 church. Again, the whole matter revolves gave her a deeper sense of Suryoyutho, of Sy- around religion as a culture. When religion riac-ness. Having a different language, diffe- becomes an individualist thing, you can go rent rites, gives us a sense of identity. I always everywhere, it doesn’t matter. say: minorities need a bit of persecution sometimes to be preserved. The problem in To me, what is extremely annoying is the atti- America is that there is zero persecution. tude of Byzantine Orthodox. With the Ca- tholic Church there are those agreements, but The opinions expressed in this article are those of the if I enter a Greek church, I will be called a author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Oasis International Foundation monophysite, most likely.

If the two Churches were of the same size and [1] The Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Jerusa- the same power, then union would make ab- lem Athanasius Yeshue Samuel (1909-1995), solutely sense. a central figure in the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls (Ed.). AGAIN, THE WHOLE But I give you MATTER REVOLVES a nice anecdote [2] HMML are the initials of Hill Museum and AROUND RELIGION about my Manuscript Library, a Benedictine initiative daughter and to preserve endangered manuscripts all AS A CULTURE around the world: http://hmml.org (Ed.) how not having a full union can preserve the minority’s identity. My daughter and my son went both George Kiraz to Catholic schools. When the time came for George A. Kiraz is the founder and director of Communion, they were put aside, simply be- Beth Mardutho. He founded Beth Mardutho in cause the priest or the nun did not know that 1992 as an institution dedicated to furthering the there were agreements for inter- study of Syriac and the Syriac tradition throu- sacramentality. I looked into the matter and ghout the world. He has personally directed ma- discovered that the US Conference of Catholic ny projects through Beth Mardutho, and his own Bishops has instructions for Catholic schools personal library forms a significant portion of the about how to behave with the other denomi- Beth Mardutho Research Library. George has nations. Since my daughter was upset of ha- taught Syriac in Princeton, Rutgers, and the PO- ving been put aside, I talked to her and told LIS Institute (Jerusalem). He has an MPhil and her that we could go and talk to the priest and PhD in Computational Linguistics from the Uni- show him the document. But she replied: “No, versity of Cambridge, where he wrote his thesis I don’t want it that way”. She was very young on computing the morphology of Arabic and Sy- at the time, she was attending elementary riac. school, but her experience of being set aside