Toward a Theology of Snow or Making Snow Figures

The following are a set of pictures and images that either I took or found on my Facebook feed. These past few days have brought both joy and new suffering to people throughout the region due to the biggest storm in 100 years. Over 70% of the population in Jerusalem alone have been either without heat or electricity. In Gaza the people are flooded with sewer water. In Syria and Lebanon the Syrian refugees are without basic necessities. Seven people have died so far due to the storm. 

The snow made the buildings look beautiful, gave people the opportunity to throw snow balls at each other. I even engaged in a snowball fight with some 10 year olds. They were surprised this lady from Chicago could throw. They didn't know about my previous experience with ambushing Catholic school boys with snowballs in July.

The snow made it impossible to drive and sometimes to even walk due impart because there is no infrastructure to deal with plowing the snow and nobody has shovels.  And on top the streets are littered with fallen branches and limbs. Yet in spite of all this the snow was a god send. It closed Shuada street in Hebron to everyone not just the Palestinians. Everyone was affected. A friend told me he helped people who were stuck on the bridge with his four wheel drive van. He helped one Orthodox family who offered money. Instead he told me, "I asked them to pray for me just in case." 

The snow brought out the best in people and made the whole place feel normal for a few days even. It also reminded me of one of the most important lessons of living under a military occupation which is to learn how to seize the moment when you can. These snow figures are testimonies to that energy, that quality of spirit of making something out of nothing, of living creatively, or with humor, of celebrating life. 

The snow also brought out the suffering for those who live on the margins for as Mohammed Al-Kurd writes in his piece, Playing, the snow also played with people's delicate lives. It was a force that could "mend or break a brokenhearted."I am happy to include his writing here along with the photograph of the pacifier from his gifted friend Rana Bishara. 

The Palestinian people teach me every day how to celebrate. Join me then in celebrating in the midst of ongoing tragedies the beauty of snow and what we can create with it. 

Even When

I have been posting images for weeks of soldiers storming Al Aqsa Mosque. A few days ago my landlord’s nephew was helping me put up Christmas ornaments, Hebron painted glass balls to be exact. He told me had gone to pray at the Mosque and that the soldiers came and shot tear gas and threw sound bombs at the men and women praying. When I asked what he did he said, “I continued to pray. They don’t scare me. If I die a martyr it’s good. This is the life.” This is the life, boys with keyfiahs making a snow Donald Duck near the Dome of the Rock in the cold wet snow. This is the life. Play when you can. This is another face of resistance.

There Now a Woman

I’m walking by and I see these guys making a snowman on the flatbed of a truck. They didn’t roll the snow to make a body and a head the way I am used to doing rather they carved into the snow to make the head one with the body.  The stick in the mouth looks more like a cigar than a pipe and those dark eyes are black olives not pieces of coal. I watch them for awhile before making a wee suggestion, “What about snow women?” One of them looks at me and picks up a handful of snow and sticks it on the snowman and says, “There, now a woman”

Someone

Bewildered by this much snow

this much slush

this much wetness

the snowman says

 “I exist because somebody cared to make me

from scooped up snow and fallen branches

stolen childhoods and demolished homes

Someone cared to make me

loan me a scarf

give me a face

red eyes from crying

from screaming “I exist”

someone made me

find you to tell this story.

Snow Enough

It is very cold and there is no heat,

no mittens, no gloves, no coat, no boots

but there is snow enough

to make a small snow dog.

In this Frozen Time

Like life

death is always present

It can’t be covered up by pretty snow

disappear under a blanket of whiteness

or a green towel

the martyr must be

remembered by witnesses

by loved ones even now

in this frozen time.

       Snow Women

       exist and

       resist

Playing

sky is where it all started
the force from above that can break or mend a brokenhearted
we watch the rain drop on our window, covered with heavy coats, tea cups in our hands
watching the fire place...our smile distracted because we know someone is suffering
someplace...so wash the smile away from our face...no matter how much snow there is
on the ground there's still a dry baby mouth
on the street lying and crying, wishing it all would end, wishing he finds a bed...waiting for the miracles to be sent and the truth to be said...
let is snow, may the snow wash away our sins, as we ask forgiveness...
we can hear the earth raging and the wind dancing to the beat of their screams.

but also somewhere else, there's a car stopping to let kids throw snow balls at it,
somewhere else for once the children are smiling and enjoying for once,
somewhere else there are kids running down the street, mothers making warm drinks
and grandmas making clothes for kids...somewhere we find hope...
but it was never a pure happiness because somewhere in this land t
the kids are playing with the snow, but somewhere in this land the snow
is playing with the kids...