“So happy, it’s the first time I touched food since mid-October ” Alice said. They had immediately evacuated their Kibbutz on the Lebanese border following October 7 and, since then, had not returned to live in their homes. Alice, originally from Scotland, married an Israeli 27 years ago.
Human Resources Manager at Magdala, Abir Totry, proposed a joint International Women’s Day celebration, cooking together. “We have the Kibbutz families here so long, almost 5 months away from their own home made food. We always do something with our own workers and sensed the Kibbutz women should have something nice, too”. The Magdala Volunteers also participated. Everyone could easily share a culinary experience. “Nitzan, the Kibbutz coordinator, welcomed the proposal to share our specific Arabic cuisine and Chef Tarek was so accommodating”. “I didn’t have to wait for the positive feedback! From the first instant, it was evidently the right choice”, Abir exclaimed.
Alice says it was a total success. “It was truly an ‘International Women’s Day”, with the volunteers, staff, and displaced families. Everyone was included. Very tasty food. There were nice interactions between religions and nationalities”. Alice, who managed the kibbutz kitchen and dining room for 12 years, relished the experience. “Children especially miss the Friday Dinner home cooking!”
The women from Magdala’s staff and volunteers teamed up with the women from the Kibbutz to stuff vegetables and pastries with meat and fill vine leaves with rice. Magdala’s kitchen staff had already prepared and cooked a lot of the ingredients. “The Arabic cuisine menu wasn’t strange, at all. Many of these Jewish people are originally Mizrahi, originating from Arabic speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa.” What did you like most? Alice loved the cheese filed Zatar sticks. This was the hit for everyone.
Alexandra, Magdala Reservations Manager took great pleasure in seeing so many languages, cultural backgrounds, and diversity united by a common reality, FOOD!
“We learned new things! Everyone was happy to share about cooking traditions”.
Maira from the Kibbutz enjoyed the very good lunch atmosphere and the beautiful display. “It was really aesthetic”.
“It was fabulous, tasty and they invested a lot of thought in this” said Amit with her husband, Gai. The women also enjoyed the five minutes peace, seeing the men relishing some of this food that evening, at dinner. Motti (Mordechai) says he only heard good things and was sad he wasn’t invited to participate since he loves to cook! Excitement abounded. Everyone was delighted with Abir’s initiative: “we loved being invited, as a shared activity”. “With a strong common shared base, together, we can process our differences!” crowned all the comments!
Get to know...
Alexandra Khamis
Reservations Manager
“Life can bring many changes!”
Alexandra cherishes her early exposure to multiple languages in her village home in Romania, close to her grandparents. Her parents were French teachers who also knew Russian. Before moving to the city, the family was able, in some measure, to practice their faith in the village of some 2000 residents, 90% of whom were Orthodox Christians, even during communism.
Alexandra arrived when the system was already transforming and went on to study University level Spanish and English for teaching. But another world unfolded when she met Jerry, an Israeli Arab Catholic from Nazareth, who ran a furniture export business to Israel. No wonder, their now teenage son, Albert, speaks Romanian with them at home while Arabic and Hebrew fluency come naturally for him, growing up close to Nazareth. When her son began school, Alexandra started to work at Zara clothing for 18 months which improved her Hebrew and Arabic before she entered the tourism sector at the Legacy Hotel. When the Legacy Manager started to work in Magdala, Providence was again preparing a change for Alexandra. Now, Tourist Agents and individual families appreciate her help trying to satisfy their wishes. Alexandra enjoys Magdala’s multifaceted dimensions and vast variety of guests. She uses all her languages every day and loves her responsibilities and growth opportunities. She recently led Magdala’s managers in her native Romania on their annual professional outing. They visited Dracula’s castle but didn’t meet Count Frankenstein!
