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From the answers I received to this question, the reason we still say some sections of davening (prayer) in Aramaic seems to be that it is historically a Jewish language, and using it unifies all Jews.

Assuming this is true, would it be acceptable for one to say the Aramaic sections of davening in Hebrew, also a historically Jewish language, if he understands Hebrew better?

EDIT: If you can answer this question specifically for בריך שמה, that would be best.

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    CYLOR​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Feb 5, 2012 at 20:31

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According to this question and answer from Machon Shilo it seems that one is allowed to say at least one of the prayers in Hebrew.

However, some prayers may not be said in Hebrew, for example the kedusha d'sidra which if said in Hebrew could be confused with the Kedusha of the Shemona esrei.

Regarding the prayer of "Brich Shmei", the prayer itself comes from the Zohar, long after Aramaic stopped being the common language of the people. Since the prayer is from a late origin, that gives strength both to the argument that it should always be said in Aramaic, and also to the argument that since it is a personal prayer, one may even say it in the language they are accustomed to. It was a tradition in my shul, that a Bar Mitzvah would say this prayer in English to themselves before concluding the prayer in Aramaic for the shul as a whole. But this was only done on the day of the bar-mitzvah itself, and never during the rest of one's life.

Each prayer that is in Aramaic needs to be looked at in detail to see why it's said in Aramaic and what the ramifications would be if it was said in Hebrew.

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  • "The section after Shacharit"- are you referring to kedusha d'sidra in uva letzion? The Aramaic there is expalining the Hebrew, not just repeating the words. (That explanation would also apply to the kedusha in sh"e.)
    – YDK
    Feb 5, 2012 at 19:12
  • @YDK yes, that is what I was refering to, I couldn't remember it's unique name. I was told it couldn't be said in Hebrew because it would be confused with the actual kedusha since it was a translation (targum) of the kedusha.
    – avi
    Feb 5, 2012 at 19:25
  • related judaism.stackexchange.com/a/13068/759
    – Double AA
    Feb 5, 2012 at 19:57
  • @DoubleAA Other than the name of the person quoted, I don't see the relationship. Parts of Kaddish was also said in Hebrew in Babylon before it was switched to Aramaic.
    – avi
    Feb 5, 2012 at 20:12
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    CYLOR​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
    – Double AA
    Feb 5, 2012 at 20:14

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