Chronicles of the Middle East
Blog Overview
After living in the Middle East region for more than 30 years, I am now more passionate than ever about documenting life in the Middle East, and that’s why I’ve created Chronicles of Life in the Middle East.
While newspapers often highlight the region’s political pressures, revolutions, and wars, I aim to shed light on the everyday life and changes occurring in the Middle East. The dynamics found here may not be so different from what they were just over 100 years ago when it was known as “tribalism.” Tribes and clans formed the various groups of people in this region, and to some extent, these social structures still exist, albeit under the banner of the nation in which they reside.
For example, within the Land of Israel, for the Jewish people, you have Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrachi, Yemenite Jews, Russian Jews, and Ethiopian Jews. Each group has unique traditions – how they wear their clothes, what food they eat at different Jewish feasts, and even what Rabbis they may follow. Most generally, though, these Jewish groups celebrate the same principal Jewish Biblical Feasts, which does tend to unify them in these seasons. Still, at other times of the year, they could live differently in their homes or synagogues.
Within the Arab communities – there are Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Muslims; there are Druze, Bedouin, and Circassians, to name a few. There are also Israeli Arabs who mainly live in the north of Israel, as well as Palestinian Refugees who live in several camps within the West Bank and Gaza.
As you see, there are many different groups of people within the Land of Israel, which is the size of the state of New Jersey, and this is just one nation within the Middle East region. Then you have people groups within Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and even Cyprus. Further out, there are Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Within most of these nations, there are still tribes and clans. Much of this is unknown to Western countries. Many times, the West, i.e., Europe or America, considers the Middle East and sees Arabs or Jews, or Iranians. Many Westerners do not understand that Christians or Jews are living in Muslim countries.
All of this is just scratching the surface of the richness of life within the Middle East region. My goal or desire through the blogs is to begin to write about the different peoples, their traditions, their cultures, and their uniqueness. I may not be able to go deeply sometimes, but I will try to include links in the blogs.
I hope you stay connected to the stories and even begin to do some of the research on your own to understand that even though technology today may try to make every culture the same, it isn’t so. The pride within tribes is fierce, and their passion for protecting their traditions and beliefs can be life-altering. Hoping you enjoy the journey.
