November 28, 2000

Marthame made the mistake of explaining a particular vocabulary word using food as an example. One of the Muslim students replied, "Teacher, please. Don't talk about food. Today is the first day of Ramadan." Even in Zababdeh, where most of the people are Christian, the signs of Ramadan are evident.

We shared a traditional Ramadan dessert (sweet cheese dumplings) with one of our neighbors, even though they are Christian and so do not fast. Another of our neighbors is Muslim, and Marthame joined him for some food shopping in Jenin - when you are hungry, you buy a lot of food! But the meaning behind the practice is clear, as is fasting in our own faith tradition - we fast because it reminds us that everything, even the food we take for granted, is from God. And so the fast is broken with the words "Allahu al-akbar" - God is the most high.

Eating traditional Ramadan desserts!