Letters to the Editor

Samir I Toubassy ’58 BBA AUB, MBA, Senior Fellow 2009 & 2010 Harvard University.

Samir had a long career in business. Worked for The Ford Foundation, American University of Beirut( budget and planning director 1967-1976), The Olayan Group 1979- until retirement. Samir published his memoir in 2019. The book Received praise and good reviews.

He shares with us an excerpt from his book:

My Nakba, by Samir Toubassy. Olive Branch Press, 2019. Reviewed by Hannah Sterenberg on January 4, 2022

“On the morning of April 14, 1948, we became a family of refugees, and together as a family we fled to many places, but never back to Jaffa.”

Centering around al-Nakba (the Disaster), as Palestinians call their 1948 displacement from their homeland, Toubassy’s engaging memoir explains how al-Nakba impacted his life. Filled with nostalgia for the Jaffa neighborhood of his childhood, My Nakba serves as a love letter to Middle Eastern culture, testifying to the strong bonds between family and the strength of connection forged by tragedy. The novel follows Toubassy’s life and his successful careers in nonprofit work and global business, intimately detailing his journey from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia, the UK and finally the US. Toubassy seeks faith and meaning after leaving his homeland. Heartfelt details and sincere love for family, friends and country fill the memoir and give glimpses into the life of a refugee trying to make sense of a world marked by suffering. Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about Palestinian history from individual experiences.

Mohammad Tassabehji ’04, PE

When I think back of my time at IC, I can’t separate it from the environment that surrounded us and the campus including the restaurants and stores. I was chatting with Omar Kreideh (2005) during an evening dinner in Boston. He was telling me how excited he was when he stumbled upon a Hardees and how he ordered a Mushroom N’Swiss burger, but that it was not the same as back home. Our friends who were listening in to our conversation were very confused to hear us get excited about an obscure fast food chain. However for us Hardees was where we would go to grab burgers on Friday after school at IC.

I have fond memories of Bliss street on my walk to and from school. This one in particular when my mom asked me to grab some food for guests on my way home. Leaving school my first stop was Snack Faysal, my favorite anytime of the day. It’s started raining in Beirut so the clean crisp air carries the smell of dough, cheese and zaatar superbly. I always took Faysal for granted, I never stopped to look at how unusual their store is, the building they are in is very small, very old and looks like the rest of it is not occupied. The most peculiar thing is an old neon sign for a pizza or Chinese restaurant at the top of the building. But don’t let the outside looks fool you, their man2oushe is second to none in my books. The store is dominated by a counter where the food is garnished and wrapped. This work is obscured by a big glass window behind which are stacked veggies, meat pies, spinach pies and cheese pies. Behind the counter are two bakers busy with the oven. And through a small window you can see a back room where the dough is prepared. I ordered seven cheese pies and seven zaatar pies. I take my receipt from the cashier and hand it to the baker behind the counter. He sticks the receipt on a metal ruler stuck to one of the shelf on the counter. The receipt sits in a line behind a bunch of other orders before mine. As I wait I watch the baker

Letters to the Editor

add cucumbers, olives and pickles to the orders before me, he then folds them in half and wraps them several times in parchment paper. While watching the baker he pulls out a pastry I have never seen before. It is a dome shaped pastry filled with cheese and coated in sesame seeds. My order is almost complete but before I leave I ask to taste this new pastry and the baker hands me one and says, “it’s called tarboush jebneh, a cheese fez, just like Abu Abeds fez.” Now I have a snack for the trip back home. It’s even sweeter cause he would not accept payment and it’s on the house.

I carry the bag of mne2esh and walk across the street to the sweet shop, Taj El Moulouk. The store smells of rose water and sugar syrup. The is a long L shaped marble counter with a glass screen that protects all the sweets from the nosy hands of kids and adults. Behind the counter there are around two dozen brass trays lined with all different kinds of sweets. Most of them are baklava variations with different nuts and filling. I ordered 10 kenefehs. Kenefeh is a sweet cheese pie that is topped with a chewy sugar infused crust. Each piece is served inside a crunchy round bread that is dusted with sesame seeds. I grab the sweets and make my way home.

And this is the best part of walking home along bliss street that is full of stores with their own unique histories. I go past the small mosque and the famous hardees. Then I cross the street or alley way that leads up to Jean D’Arc, which in my days hosted network cafes, for the guys to play computer games, they would spend hours at the network. I go past what was the old Socrates restaurant, who’s memory still makes me hungry. And speaking of food, while not on bliss, but the same block just one street up is Marouche, whose chicken, garlic and pickle sandwich was unparalleled. I keep walking and then I go past what was Ben and Jerry and then the Kahwa. The next stretch is all food or books. Malek Al Tawak, the old barber, Substation, then tal3et Uncle Sam’s that includes Universal Snack. The next street is most famous because it sits right across the street from the MainGate. Many stores have come and gone in this street but for me it will always be Abu Naji’s (Epi’Dor) and Malik’s bookshop.

Abu Naji was the name of the store owner, his store had everything students needed. The store was packed with goods, piled way up into the ceiling, I always wondered how they would get to some of those things. I saw them once. They have ladders but also long sticks they use to snag that box of kleenex 4 meters at the top of the shelf. Abu Naji’s most famous item was their coffee, which was instant Nescafe coffee with sweetened condensed milk. If you have never had it, please try it next time you’re in Beirut.

Next there is another Malik’s, a Saj Place, then there is a Bank which is housed in the stretch of old sandstone buildings along bliss. I do recall that this was an old bookstores, one of those really cozy bookstores. You walk in and everything was stacked high, piled ontop of each other, and the store smelled of dust and old paper. They had blue doors and blue steel shutters.

Also with a blue store front and a blue Pepsi sign that houses their store name was National Bakeries, and their man2oushe is also superb. Next door was Bliss House, which was a landmark, not just because of their two stores that sold sweet and savory dishes, but for the parking operation right in front of the store. Always busy and always packed, swing by on a Friday or Saturday evening and you will see a semi valet parking arrangement with people ordering from their cars, double parking, and organized chaos. I always miss the fruit cocktails and the merry cream, soft serve ice cream they had.

I am not sure how many of these places are still around or not, but these shops and their quirks and stores will always be associated with my time at IC.