For Holy Land olive wood creche maker, daily work is his bridge to faith

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank (OSV News) -- Ashraf Jarayseh, 60, still keeps the massive olive wood carving he created depicting different moments of Jesus' life, death and resurrection on both sides of a hollowed-out olive tree trunk in his Beit Sahour olive wood workshop.

The sculpture was commissioned for the opening of a new souvenir shop shortly before Oct. 7, 2023 but now is kept under plastic covering as Jarayseh waits for the day when the pilgrims return to Bethlehem.

While he is pleased to see the beauty of his handiwork, he would like it to be exhibited in the shop so others can enjoy it too, he said.

One of the three traditionally Christian towns including Bethlehem and Beit Jala located outside of Jerusalem, West Bank's Beit Sahour is known for its high-quality olivewood artisans.

Jarayseh's Holy Family Co., which was founded by his grandfather, is among the best known for its handcrafted statues, creches, Christmas tree ornaments and crucifixes -- each piece made by hand on machines by a member of the family -- either Jarayseh himself, his brother Elias, or his sons Majd, 27, or Fadi, 21.

The fourth-generation Holy Family Co. employs some 30 people, family members and friends.
The youngest member of the family involved in the workshop is Jarayseh's 12-year-old nephew, he said. For now the boy has declared that he wants to study in the university and work in a different profession because he doesn't want to be dependent on tourism and its fluctuations. But Jarayseh says they will teach him the craft anyway, as a backup.

"He is young. When he works with us, maybe (his opinion) will change. Working with olive wood is like an addiction," he said. "It's also our faith as a Catholic, as a Christian, because Jesus used to pray under the olive tree." The wood itself, he said, "is the oldest wood, even without carving it has a beautiful grain."

It is more than just a job, he said -- he could easily work in a different sector to earn money, but working with olive wood is in their blood. The pieces he enjoys most creating, he said, are the ones of the Holy Family.

"Without family, we are nothing. Jesus began with the family," he said. "We follow Jesus, because Jesus came and he didn't come to be alone. He came to be as a family."

According to the Bethlehem Governorate data for 2023, 2,000 people were employed as olivewood artisans in approximately 450 workshops before Oct. 7, 2023 when the Hamas onslaught from the Gaza Strip on southern Israeli communities killed 1,200 people and captured 250, sparking a war which to date killed 45,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

The Governorate statistics show that some 1.5 million tourists had visited the Bethlehem area with 1 million overnight stays prior to Oct. 7, 2023. But tourism and pilgrimages have plummeted over the past year, with most souvenir shops keeping their doors closed, or opening for only a few hours. Few pilgrimage groups, usually from the Far East, Africa or Poland, can be seen in Bethlehem just a week before Christmas.

Workshops work shortened hours and fewer days per week, trying to keep afloat for employees and owners alike. Most have looked abroad for markets -- either individually or through the local cooperative, and have family members in Europe or the U.S. selling at Christmas markets and church bazaars, noted Elias Ghareeb. He is an owner of Grace Tours tourism company who has pivoted his work now to use his contacts abroad with churches, friends and tour leaders to help sell the olive wood crafts.

"This helps them a lot, to continue their work. The local market sales are zero. Even souvenir shops are not open. So this way they continue working and this is like their main income. We used to have thousands of people coming daily, now we have nothing. We have many, many people who go to European Christmas markets, to America ... At least they're able to survive," said Ghareeb. "This is how we help each other out here as a community."

Without this kind of collaboration keeping people employed, there would be more emigration of Christians, said Jarayseh, noting that his son Fadi is now in the U.S. marketing their products.

As the oldest son, Jarayseh began working with his father and grandfather as an 8-year-old after school, fashioning Christmas ornaments and creches. The family is working with the locally sourced material of olive wood, which they buy from farmers from Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jenin and Galilee. The branches are stored inside a storeroom where they are dried naturally and slowly, so when cut -- the natural grain and smoothness are revealed -- making each piece unique in its details, he said.

Even in his sleep Jarayseh said he thinks of new designs and different patterns to create, keeping his stock and his work always interesting and new. They have some 600-700 different designs which they make, he said. As he prepares to send some products to markets abroad, almost completed crucifixes lay out on two tables in front of the workshop as the glue dries, and pieces of creches are piled in boxes waiting to be put together.

For his son Majd, despite the difficult work and the difficult times, working with the wood in the family workshop gives him a sense of satisfaction, he said.

"We still work with my father, we still help him and continue the family tradition," he said.

During an audience with Pope Francis, his son presented the pope with a special statue of St. Francis made in his honor, said Jarayseh.

Jarayseh, always with a ready smile, said they could never imagine doing something else and could never be sad despite the different hardships they have faced throughout the region with the intifadas and the COVID-19 pandemic and now Israel-Hamas war, which stopped visitors from coming to the Holy Land.

"We know this our life. From the beginning Jesus said: you need to be here; you need to be here even in difficult times ... We all have a cross to bear. As Christians we just want there to be peace for all."