Taybeh
Tiny Taybeh is so much more than beer and antiquity. It is the location of St. George Church (below, top photo) and its remarkable, admirable, energetic parish priest, Father Raed Abu Sahlieh (bottom photo). He exemplifies the best of Christ's teachings, walking the walk but also talking the talk to explain to anyone who will listen why peace, social justice and the brotherhood of man are so important to humankind. He runs the church of course, but also a school for area children of all faiths, a 50-voice children's choir, the only care facility around for the elderly and the inspiring Peace Lamp project. His fund-raising idea was to put olive-oil-burning dove-shaped Peace Lamps in all the world's churches. Ambitious and admirable. The church grounds also feature the recreation of a Holy Land dwelling from the time of Christ.
They say if you can't say something good, say nothing at all, so I'm not cyber-saying anything about lunch at the Asffoura Restaurant in Nablus.
Mt. Gerizim and the Last of the Samaritans
We drove to the top of Mt. Gerizim overlooking Nablus. On the windy summit is a small Samaritan village presided over by Kahen Husni, the priest of this tiny, ancient sect that in Biblical times counted millions of believers and now has fewer than 1,000. The Samaritans, who trace their unbroken lineage back to the ancient Israeli tribe of Levi, maintain practices from two millennia ago, including ritual sheep sacrifice that is so authentic that several thousand Israeli Jews visit annually to see how it was done in the really old days. The Samaritans' practices are similar the Jewish rituals (Saturday sabbath, reading from the Torah in Hebrew, etc.) but Arabic is their everyday language. They don't eschew modern life. They have televisions and cell phones, and a group of boys was energetically kick a soccer ball around on the area used for the sacrifice. Perhaps some of the children harbored dreams of some day playing on a Palestinian team in the World Cup.
Nablus
Back down the mountain to Nablus and a quick run through the ancient market, which is not under threat from Jewish settlers as Hebron is. I could have spent hours there, but we were directed to be on the fast track. Our only detour was to an olive factory that still has traditional hand-operated soap-making apparatus on display but now makes the soap elsewhere.
The simple, well-worn Yasmeen Hotel is our lodging for the night. The location on the fringes of the souk is fantastic, especially for those with time to meander through the market. Sadly, the exterior still bears the scars of bullet hits. My room resembles a monastic cell, but there is free WiFi, without which I'd be even father along than I am. Dinner at the nearby Saraya Restaurant is a traditional progression of small salads, spreads, dips, condiments and of course, pita, followed by roasted lamb and fragrant rice and then knafa, a local dessert made of sweet melted goat cheese, honey and a crunchy topping that might have been small piece of crumbled dough or something else that I couldn't identify.
Most of my traveling companions went to a Turkish bath, but I opted to return to the hotel and check on E-mail, write a blog post and get some sleep. I was still at it when they returned from the Turkish bath.
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