Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met Abdullah Al Baroun and Abdul Lateef Al Nesef, the individuals behind the Arabic versions of India’s two iconic epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Among the many stories resurfacing in the wake of this historical moment is that of Judeo-Syrian Arabic, a nearly extinct dialect central to Aleppo and Damascus's Jewish communities. Judeo-Syrian ...