When we read in Luke’s gospel the story of Jesus reading from Isaiah in the Synagogue we probably have a mental image of a European looking Jesus delivering a modern day kind of sermon. This video is not spectacular, but it is probably the closest example of what Jesus would have both looked like and sounded like as he read that day. The young man in the video is a Jew from Yemen, and he is reading/cantoring the Torah.
His pronunciation is quite different from modern Hebrew and the rhythm in the way he sings the scriptures is thought by scholars to be the closest to the way Hebrew was read by Jews in Jesus’ day. It sounds to modern ears a lot like the Muslim call to prayer. A great reminder of Jesus Jewishness and his Middle Easternness.
