DABURIYYA

 

For some time now I have been denying an indisputable fact. I am growing old! On 9/11 when everyone is recalling the day the towers came down, I will be 88. Instead of settling into a comfortable decline, I’m determined to maintain my relatively good physical and mental wellbeing.

My blog is part of my anti-ageing activity. Early morning walks and occasional translations for one of our factories as well as renewed interest in reading, are all contributing to this effort. Unfortunately, my wife isn’t so well-situated, Roni has a number of health-related problems that necessitate round-the-clock attention that I can’t give her at home. She is mentally active and alert, but needs a rollator to get around.

 Recently Roni moved to the kibbutz assisted living centre. When I tried to explain our situation to a friend who has never been here, he responded incredulously, “What, you put her in a home!” I had a hard time explaining that the home is in my home, Kibbutz Ein Harod Ihud.

Our Assisted Living Facility is a mere 250 metres from our house. All the residents of the “Facility”, better known as Beit Hadar, are local people. The new manager is a very congenial Orthodox Jew who lives nearby at Kibbutz Shluchot. Giddy (Gideon Cohen) is aided by a professional staff that specialises in caring for senior citizens; nurses, a social worker, a dietician, a physiotherapist, occupational therapists and others.

The cleaning and general help is handled by a trained staff of Jewish and Arab Israelis.

The kibbutz medical personnel headed by our doctor recommended that Roni should move to Beit Hader. After consulting with our family Roni and I agreed that she would receive better attention at our Assisted Living Facility.

After moving to her self-contained unit, we have been busy adding a family touch to the place where Roni spends part of her time.

Every week the management publishes an activities timetable. Participation is open to residents of Beit Hadar and non-resident kibbutz members.

This brief preamble serves to introduce the main topic, a visit to Daburiyya.

Daburriya is an Arab town situated 8 kilometres east of Nazareth and 19 km from Ein Harod. In 2019 it had a population of 10,510.

The town lies on a steep incline at the foot of Mount Tabor in Lower Galilee. It’s difficult to estimate the size of the town before the Muslim conquest and even later. It has been suggested that the origin of the town’s name is linked to the Prophetess Deborah mentioned in the Book of Judges. Alternatively, to the Canaanite word ‘Davar’ meaning sheep pastures. Yet another possible origin of the name Daburriya is an Arabisation of Daberat, a Levite town mentioned in Joshua 21-28. The name of Kibbutz Dovrat situated in the same area is derived from the same biblical source.

 Briefly included in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Daburiyya fell to Saladin in 1187 and a mosque, possibly built above an old Crusader tower, has an inscription above the entrance stating that it was built in 1214 CE.

In 1517, Daburriya appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as a village, with a population of 40 households and 3 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat and barley, fruit trees, cotton, as well as on goats and beehives.

In 1838, a European traveller described Daburriya as a small unremarkable Muslim village. He mentioned seeing the ruins of a Christian church near the centre of the village.

In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund’s (PEF) Survey of Western Palestine described Daburriya as "A small village built of stone, with inhabited caves; Its population numbers about 200 Moslems and is surrounded by gardens of figs and olives. It is situated on the slope of the hill. Water is obtained from cisterns in the village."

A population list from about 1887 showed that Daburriya had about 300 inhabitants; all Muslims.

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Daburriya had a total population of 602, all Muslim, which had increased in the 1931 census to 747; 728 Muslims and 19 Christians, in a total of 170 houses.

In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,290, 1,260 Muslims and 30 Christians.

Minor archaeological surveys, salvage and trial digs conducted in the village, including some in 2004 and 2006, uncovered pottery and other fragmentary remains from the Iron Age to the Ottoman period. The 2000s digs brought to light ceramics from the Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad and Mamluk periods, sparse building remains from the Late Roman or Byzantine period, and a probable terrace wall datable to the Middle Bronze Age and/or the Roman period, as well as rock-cut wine vats.

In 2008 and 2009 Daburiyya High School received the National Education Award, achieving second and third place. It was the first time that a school in Israel has won the award twice in a row. The principal, Abed Elsalam Masalcha, attributed the positive developments in the school to the introduction of a Transcendental Meditation programme which solved student discipline problems.

This concise account of a neighbouring town (Daburriya) serves as an introduction to my visit there on Monday. I wanted to buy an armchair for Roni. Our daughter Irit found a number of suitable chairs 'online’, but I’m wary of buying furniture online. So, when my “Nanny” Sima Zoabi suggested shopping for the chair in Daburriya I accepted her invitation

At this juncture I want to add a margin note: Sima is a Muslim Arab woman employed by a subcontractor for the Israeli Social Security Authority.

Malka a middle-aged Jewish woman is the main Nanny from 08.00-11.30 five days a week, whereas, Sima supplements her for two hours, three days a week. Malka was born in India. She and her family live in Afula. She is also employed by the same subcontractor. Malka and Sima are old friends since Malka once worked with Sima’s mother at a senior citizen’s centre in Afula. Before someone writes to remind me of the old adage “Too many Nannies spoil the child.”  I hasten to add that the term Nanny is misleading, care worker is more accurate and the Hebrew word M’tapelet describes the function best.

Before Roni moved to Bet Hadar we really needed the help. However, lately I can manage with little or no help. This week for the first time in years I ate lunch in the kibbutz dining room. The meal was secondary to socialising with old friends. Nevertheless, there are benefits to having a woman in the house and more with two women. Sima is great at making salads for my evening meal at home. Yesterday she baked an apple strudel (she called it something else). Malka arranges the closets and drawers in every room in meticulous order, towels items of clothing folded neatly according to size and colour. Next week I will be downgraded receiving less help, probably from Sima. In the photographs I have added you will no doubt notice that Sima wears the traditional hijab commonly worn by Muslim Arab Women. She has made the Umrah pilgrimage to the secondary holy site in Saudi Arabia. Just the same, she is easy to talk to and readily answers my questions about her lifestyle.

                                     Sima and her ward                           Roni with Sima

At this second juncture, I want to return to our search for the armchair. Obviously, it would have been preferable to take Roni with us, but the steep inclines in Daburriya and difficult access to many of the furniture stores ruled out that option.

 I called to mind the adage “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain”.

It has been around for centuries and has been attributed originally to both Turkish folklore as well as being retold in ‘Essays’ by Francis Bacon in 1625.

“Mahomet cald the Hill to come to him. And when the Hill stood still, he was neuer a whit abashed, but said; If the Hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet wil go to the Hill.” (No online spelling aids back then. Write as you like!)

It aptly fits our armchair dilemma. Still, I didn’t quote the adage to Sima for fear of offending her.

After trying out several chairs in a number of stores, I finally chose one and ordered it in a more suitable shade.

Sima lives with her family in Na’ura, close to Ein Harod. She was born in Daburriya and moved to Na’ura after her marriage.

After the customary bargaining over the price of the chair and finalising other details, Sima took me to meet her family.

Her mother plied us with soft drinks before we moved on to visit her father and one of her brothers.

Another margin note: The visit to Daburriya led me to realise that I know very little about our close neighbours. In addition to Sima’s family everyone I met there was friendly and accommodating. In brief, very nice people.  

The family business is a snack bar on the main road leading out of Daburriya. I wondered how a small snack bar could provide a reasonable standard of living for the family. “Water” said Sima’s father. Puzzled by his brief reply, I asked him to elaborate. It transpires that Israelis drink a lot of bottled water. One of the largest bottled water companies in Israel employs ‘truckers’ from Daburriya to transport water to customers all over Israel. Every day more than eighty semi-trailers loaded with their cargo of “Waters of Eden” brand bottled water head out to delivery points throughout the country. Many prefer to travel at night when the roads are less congested. Most of them stop by the snack bar to get something to eat before heading out. The snack bar is open 24/7, a serv
ice that’s hard to beat.

More about water in a country that has water to spare! When travelling abroad most people check to see if it is safe to drink the water. 

It transpires that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has recommended Israel as one of the few places in the world where the water is adequate and recommended.

Israel’s water quality standards are among the most exacting in the world. Our tap water supply is based mainly on groundwater pumping (mountain and coastal aquifers), surface water (Lake Kinneret, springs and rivers) and desalinated seawater (the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea).
 Furthermore, the standards required for ensuring tap water quality are constantly updated.

Yet, Israelis that insist on drinking bottled water know that tap water is safe to drink.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Beni                                                                                          1^st of September, 2022