Michal Baranes and Yakub Barhum’s Majda restaurant, located in Ein Rafa west of Jerusalem, closed its doors after 14 years marking a sad ending that highlights the ongoing financial hardships of culinary businesses in Israel as the war continues.
This isn’t only sad because it highlights Israel’s difficult financial and security situation, but also because Majda was, beyond its culinary achievements, a symbol of coexistence that seems impossible in the current climate.
The restaurant was founded in 2010 in the heart of the Arab village of Ein Rafa by Yakub, a village local, and his Jewish wife Michal. It garnered a devoted following from the get-go, including the late legendary chef Anthony Bourdain, who featured it in an episode about Jerusalem on his CNN series and showered it with outstanding reviews.
The unique food, a one-time combination of classic rural Arab and traditional Italian cuisines that sometimes included a mysterious personal touch, was served in the middle of a wide, green, shaded and quiet orchard, making it one of the most beautiful restaurants in the country.
Now, the restaurant’s inspiration and hope are giving way to sadness. Michal and Yakub are giving up and moving to France where they will be close to Yakub’s brother, who has lived there for years. They are giving up on their dream and effectively saying it is no longer possible.
Beyond the economic aspect, the closure is accompanied by strong disappointment with the location and also the customers, some of whom stopped coming and exchanged their loyalty and desire for coexistence for suspicion, if not outright hatred.
And even though, surprisingly, the couple accepted this with understanding, there’s no escaping the fact that they feel hurt, and wonder if there can be a future in Israel for a mixed and peace-seeking couple.
"We’re overall disillusioned with everything happening here,” Michael said. “We want a new path, to try to live in a quiet place, to find peace and some sanity. People haven’t come in since October 7 and we understand that. But it's been 14 years and we felt we did a lot and that it’s enough, it's over."
What kind of response did you get from customers during the war?
"Over the years, we have been shown a lot of love. But Yakub and I felt like this was going to be long, painful and discouraging, and we felt like this was the end. We saw people changing their opinions. We’re both with and against them. We have our own personal opinions regardless. But this is not the time for hosting, for a restaurant business, for fine dining. For nothing.
“It's time to stop and think. The restaurant being empty for months leads to the fact that it's probably time to stop. After all, I first said I wouldn't open the restaurant until there was peace, and I know now peace wouldn't come. Then people reached out and asked us to reopen. And we reopened,” she said.
“But except for a few, people didn’t come back. How long can you hold on like this? So we said it was enough. Maybe we've concluded our role as ambassadors that we were given."
I feel part of your decision is personal.
"Yes. Part of the decision isn’t business-oriented but a private one of not being able to be here anymore. We live in two worlds and to us everyone has gone mad. We don't want to be in this madness. This isn’t our way of life. There’s a complete meltdown here. We always had a dream of living abroad.”
"I just want to say thank you for everything," Michal added. "We were fortunate. It was very fun. We did what we wanted at our home and now restaurants continuing our way in the village. It’s important that people come because they’re standing empty now. It’s important to arrive despite everything. Stop being afraid."