LIFE OF A SHEPHERD
Recently a news reporter interviewed a Bethlehem shepherd: Ibraham Ali Tamaari, a 55-year-old shepherd who has spent his life following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, leading his sheep through the rocky West Bank hills around Bethlehem in search of scarce grass. Yes, there still are shepherds in Bethlehem in 1995 after all these thousands of years. King David herded sheep there in his youth. But the number of shepherds and sheep are dwindling. Shepherd Ibraham said that he is sorry to see shepherds disappearing from the fields around him. His own son has found more lucrative work as a stonecutter. “This job has no future” he said. “For two months in the spring it’s beautiful,” pointing to the rolling country side there around Bethlehem; “it’s green; you have nice views. But the shepherd’s life is a hard one, with little return for long days that start before dawn.” The reporter described the shepherd as tanned and wrinkled…
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