Immersive Arabic program invites Israelis to blend into life in Abu Ghosh

Seven years of classroom Arabic had not ready me for immersion into the Arab village of Abu Ghosh, positioned 15 kilometers (9 miles) exterior of Jerusalem. Thus, when the primary native to whom I used to be launched tried handy me espresso — a drink I detest — I politely refused, saying that I had simply come from lunch within the village. Sadly, this turned out to be a stupendous fake pas: You simply don’t say no when an Arab affords you espresso! I had heard, after all, about Arabic hospitality, however studying a few customized is one factor, and experiencing it’s one thing else solely.

I used to be in Abu Ghosh on the invitation of 30-year-old Chen Kupperman, founder and common director of a singular Arabic language college, a non-profit known as Mix.ar (brief for Mix Arabic). Final month I heard about Mix.ar for the primary time, and, within the concept behind it, I satisfied Kupperman to let me shadow members throughout a part of a four-day immersion program in Abu Ghosh. Whereas there, I discovered myself mesmerized by each the idea and the environment.

Kupperman had provide you with the concept for Mix.ar after getting back from a post-army tour of India, Ladakh and Burma. Through the months he spent overseas, he realized the language of every nation, immersed himself of their completely different cultures, and made mates with whom he nonetheless stays in touch.

As soon as again in Israel, and nonetheless underneath the heady affect of his journey, Kupperman determined to review Arabic.

“There are such a lot of Arabs in Israel that not understanding the language is an actual handicap,” he says. “In truth, it bothers me that so many individuals on either side of the political spectrum don’t have any actual understanding of Arab tradition. With out understanding Arabic, and missing an consciousness of what, to Jewish Israelis is a ‘overseas’ tradition, speaking in regards to the so-called Israeli-Palestinian dispute is meaningless.”

So Kupperman enrolled in an intensive six-month Arabic course that he says was glorious in some ways. However though he was now fluent within the Arabic language, he felt that one thing had been lacking from the course: He hadn’t been to even one Arab house and hadn’t met with a single Arab Israeli exterior the classroom.

Mix.ar founder 30-year-old Chen Kupperman on this undated photograph. (Courtesy)

That’s when he determined to create Mix.ar, a brand new means of educating Arabic in Israel. Research would encompass formal lessons, casual observe in small teams with Arab tutors and involvement within the every day lives of Arab villagers.

However first he needed to discover simply the suitable Arab village during which to start this system. After testing numerous different venues, Kupperman selected Abu Ghosh as the primary village during which Mix.ar college students would work together with the locals.

Residents of Abu Ghosh have at all times been pleasant to the Jews. Certainly, through the British Mandate, which lasted from 1920 to 1948, locals as soon as even helped a Jewish underground fighter escape from a British jail. And since Israel’s institution in 1948, Abu Ghosh villagers have turn into intricately concerned in Israeli life.

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A view of Abu Ghosh, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

Nonetheless, it took nearly a 12 months of groundwork earlier than this system could possibly be put in force. Throughout that point, Kupperman and others from Mix.ar rented and restored a abandoned home within the village. They hung out attending to know the locals, and located dozens of villagers keen to open their hearts to this system. All had been requested to speak solely in Arabic with the scholars, regardless of with the ability to converse glorious Hebrew.

Mix.ar has been working at full pace for the reason that starting of 2020, persevering with regardless of the coronavirus pandemic; this system I noticed in Abu Ghosh happened final month. A lot of the 9 individuals accepted for this system had been singles of their 20s, with one household man of 45 and one other 65-year-old. They had been required to have a point of fluency in Arabic, since that’s all they’d hear from morning till night time. They usually needed to agree by no means to say something even remotely associated to politics.

“That is likely one of the issues that I actually like about Mix.ar,” says 26-year-old Lior Dabush, who simply accomplished a college diploma in Center East research and political science.

Mix.ar members go to the 600-year-old cemetery throughout a tour of Abu Ghosh, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

I arrived in Abu Ghosh on the second day of the four-day program and commenced by assembly with Gilad Heimann. A significant participant within the Mix.ar household, lively in its growth and at the moment engaged on its growth exterior of Abu Ghosh, Heimann has at all times beloved languages.

When his highschool Arabic research failed to offer him with the instruments essential for communication, Heimann vowed that he would by some means turn into fluent. That occurred throughout his obligatory military service, when he realized the language and spoke Arabic with the Druze troopers in his unit. Heimann was liable for the day-to-day operation of the Abu Gosh program and shifted simply to alternate plans when one thing didn’t work out because it was purported to.

Afterward, accompanied by Heimann, I adopted members to their volunteer jobs. They cooked and served in eating places, helped with washing up when essential, and stocked cabinets or packed luggage at minimarkets. Though I couldn’t at all times perceive what was stated, I loved watching hosts and volunteers join.

A participant of the Mix.ar program learns the ropes, in Arabic, at a neighborhood mini-market, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

Throughout his volunteer shifts on this system, 23-year-old Inbar Shenyuk, who grew up on a kibbutz, found that his hosts had been unusually hospitable and noticed the Mix.ar group as friends quite than volunteer staff. They didn’t need to ask for or obtain assist, and Shenyuk needed to make an actual effort to persuade his hosts to let him help.

“I bought way more out of those 4 days than I anticipated,” he says, including that his Arabic improved immensely on this system. “However much more vital than mastering the language had been the teachings I realized in regards to the village and its individuals.”

Mix.ar members converse with older males on the group heart in Abu Ghosh, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

Volunteering in Abu Gosh takes many kinds, and at 9 a.m. on the third day of this system, I accompanied the group to the village group heart. Heimann spoke briefly to the dozen or so aged males who hold on the market each morning, after which everybody performed musical chairs till every Mix.ar participant was seated subsequent to a number of of the villagers.

I listened as one scholar started a dialog with an 85-year outdated man. Inside seconds, and with relish, the person launched into an enchanting story about Nineteenth-century weddings, and the way they created the actual social material of the village at this time.

Mix.ar members take a tour of Abu Ghosh, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

In a while that day, we went on a tour of the village with Bana Abu Katish, a 19-year-old second-year journalism scholar on the Hebrew College and Abu Ghosh native now working for Mix.ar. When not main village excursions or internet hosting college students in her household house and backyard, Abu Katish tutors small teams of three or 4 college students in Arabic after their formal lessons are over.

“Time flies,” she says, “as we observe talking Arabic by way of tales, video games, visible aids and all types of different dynamic studying instruments.”

Mix.ar members loosen up in Bana Abu Katish’s household backyard, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

As a part of the tour we visited the beautiful Grand Mosque, the second largest of its sort in Israel. Its imam, Sheikh Raed, spoke about mosques typically and particularly in regards to the historical past and construction of the village mosque.

Contributors within the Mix.ar program go to the Nice Mosque in Abu Ghosh, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

Later, we had been hosted by Brother Olivier at Abu Ghosh’s fantastically restored Church of the Crusaders. A outstanding French monk who discovered the church in horrible disrepair when he arrived in Abu Ghosh 40 years in the past, Olivier is a mild soul who, amazingly, realized his glorious Hebrew from the native Muslims.

Mix.ar college students usually type robust relationships with residents of Abu Ghosh. Throughout this program, members spent a number of evenings at village pubs — the place locals drink espresso and tea, and benefit from the occasional water pipe — along with villagers they’d met.

Brother Olivier poses for a photograph in Abu Ghosh, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

All of which may result in some highly effective moments. On the second night of this system, 28-year-old Dani Rodov sat at a neighborhood hummus hangout with a number of villagers and some individuals from the Mix.ar group. One of many locals invited everybody again to his home, and as they sat within the backyard — talking Arabic, after all — Rodov instantly realized that with language now not a barrier, he felt as if he had been passing the time along with his mates at house, having the identical simple conversations, the identical type of shared experiences.

Mix.ar members chat with fellow staff earlier than a shift volunteering in a restaurant in Abu Ghosh, October 2021. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

Though this explicit program was particularly tailor-made to individuals whose Arabic was already fairly good, Mix.ar affords all kinds of lessons for learners and intermediates, dialog programs for individuals who solely need to observe talking the language, month-long packages, summer season programs, and distinctive weekends in Abu Ghosh. Costs range in accordance with this system and the variety of college students participating. For a while, now, Mix.ar has additionally been conducting webinars with Jewish federations in the US. These uncommon zoom seminars concentrate on Arab society and tradition, sprinkled with a style of the Arabic language.

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Aviva Bar-Am is the writer of seven English-language guides to Israel. Shmuel Bar-Am is a licensed tour information who supplies non-public, custom-made excursions in Israel for people, households and small teams.