Oktoberfest in Taybeh

Can you find me in the crowd? Wearing Johnnie red.

West Bank from Taybeh

West Bank from Taybeh again

Taybeh fawafel stand

He liked my hat and I liked his, Go Johnnies!
Main-street in Ramallah
A look out from Taybeh
The West Bank to the east of Taybeh

Shakespeare would have loved the men doing some female roles in Cinderella at Oktoberfest.

Arab dancers
Bavarian band
Brewmaster in the middle and me surrounded by zivis
Crowd watching the stage

Sunday we headed for Taybeh, northeast in the “dreaded” West Bank. To get there we first took an Arabic bus (much smaller and cheaper than the Jewish system) to Ramallah. Ramallah is the heart of the West Bank, all of the governing for Palestine comes out of here. Naturally it is all Moslems and getting out of Ramallah (it is surrounded by a 15-20 foot concrete wall laced with razor wire) into Israel is difficult, found this out on our way back to Jerusalem. Creating a peaceful relationship between Israel and the Palestinian territories will at some point require recognizing this wall is a direct sign of bigotry by Israel. I look at this wall and wonder how people can rationalize its helpfulness. I am reminded of the segregation in the US, apartheid in South Africa, Darfur, and the Holocaust (not the actual events but the motives behind the horrible actions).

We had to switch from the bus to a sherut (van-sized taxi) at Ramallah because not enough need to go to Taybeh apparently. As I departed the bus I entered a new world. Ramallah reminds me of parts of Johannesburg I saw: outdated cars, vendors, groups of people just standing and talking, constant honking and shouting, and tall old run-down buildings that should be imploded but are used instead for shops, offices, and housing. It is extremely busy but it is the poor man’s busy with people going in every direction for seemingly no reason (no work, no shopping, etc.). Surprisingly as an American in an Arab world I felt safe, I did not feel the tension here like in Jerusalem (dishearteningly maybe because there were only Arabs). Driving out in the country in Palestine is depressing. Our driver could not speak any English except for “Israel”, “Palestine”, and “shekel” (currency), but he pointed out to us on the horizon Israeli land and Palestinian land. I did not need him to point out the difference. 90 percent of the West Bank I saw outside of Ramallah and Taybeh looks like it has been bulldozed, because that is exactly what happened. Imagine the way a forest looks after it has been clear-cut with just the misplaced stumps and nothing higher than your knee. It is the same but with rock and cement; a forest of houses was clear-cut throughout the whole land and their inhabitants were forced to leave. You look at all this waste and think about who used to live there and call it a home and ask yourself where are they now and why did this all happen?

Not only was the view uncomfortable but also so was the ride. We were crammed into the sherut and drove a (maybe) 6 foot wide road that turned at right angles and up inclines that are second, in angle grade, only to taking off in a space shuttle. After the 40-minute drive in which only 2 inches of my butt were on the seat we pulled into Taybeh and I awkwardly fell out of the sherut because my whole left side was asleep (wonder if I’ll have any long-term nerve damage). It was worth the ride. Oktoberfest in Taybeh is what the banner over the streets read and that is exactly what they gave you. There is a brewery in Taybeh that is the only brewery in the Middle East that abides by the German rules of brewing: only four ingredients, no additives, no preservatives. This town celebrates Oktoberfest for three days each year and thousands of people ascend upto the city, mostly the Germans and Austrians who find themselves within a cheap travel ticket price distance away. There was a Bavarian Band of musicians, an acting of Cinderella (in Arabic), Arabic dancing, and Arabic clown acts. Booths with all sorts of Arabic foods, trinkets, some American and German foods, of course beer kegs (each 12 ounce beer cost 10 shekel = $2.80). Some important monastic information Br. Paul: I had my picture taken with the Patriarch. We were given a private tour of the brewery from the brewmaster himself because an Arab news TV station wanted to get Germans at Oktoberfest in Taybeh. The brewmaster loved our group because of that but once the cameras shut off the brewmaster quickly lost interest in us.

I had the time of my life here. Richard and Thomas taught me a song the night before that Germans sing when toasting and we sang this every chance we got and people sang along. Right when we arrived, the Chicken Dance “I don’t want to be a chicken, I don’t want to be a duck…” was played and Thomas and I were the only people in the crowd participating, but everyone was singing and laughing with us (“not at us” says the naive American). The best part of the day was when I ran into a producer for National Public Radio. She asked to interview me about why I was in Israel and how I heard about this festival. I’d like to think I sounded graceful and educated yet not pretentious. We will see, it was for the program Forum and she was not sure it would air. After she was done recording we had a great talk in detail on why I was here in Taybeh (not mainly for the beer Br. Paul). I went to the West Bank because I live a sheltered life in Tabgha. That is not the Holy Land that is showed and glorified. Tabgha is for tourists and religious pilgrims, in Palestine I got another point of view. I delicately choose my words here; if you are Jewish then Israel is a democracy, if you are not Jewish then Israel is a religious monarchy in which you have no blood-lines. I had a great conversation with her and her assistant and we saw and shared a lot of the same thoughts and ideas on what we’ve seen and experienced. It was good to feel reassured on some of the impressions I have and to learn that they are not radical.