Rabbis head to nurture Jewish faith in United Arab Emirates

Rabbi Levi Duchman blows a shofar, or ram's horn, while leading prayers ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, at the only known synagogue in the Arabian Peninsula, located in an unmarked villa in Dubai

Credit: Christopher Pike

The United Arab Emirates is becoming an unlikely training ground for the next generation of orthodox rabbis.

Since normalisation of relations with Israel last year under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, more 30 young rabbis from countries including the Ukraine, Turkey and Israel, have joined the efforts to build a Jewish community that had previously been kept largely secret.

Most are members of Dubai’s large community of expatriate workers, including citizens from France, South Africa and the UK. They typically work in fields such as finance, real estate and the diamond trade. Estimates of the size of the community range from a few hundred to more than 1,000.

The internship project is the brainchild of Brooklyn-born Rabbi Levi Duchman, an orthodox Jewish emissary to the UAE, who hopes the young rabbis will also learn from their experiences of the Arab world.

He also believes it may in turn break down many of the myths, fears and misconceptions between Jews and Muslims globally. The rabbis, who stay from two to eight months, will be involved in creating religious infrastructure for followers of the Jewish faith.

Rabbi Levi Duchman, centre, prays with members of his congregation in Dubai

Credit: Christopher Pike

They will advise restaurants that wish to become Kosher compliant, lead prayer services in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and ensure that Covid regulations limit gatherings. Some will stay on and become permanent rabbis in the Emirates.

Rabbi Duchman, a member Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic Countries and fluent in Hebrew and Arabic, is only 27. He hopes the new visitors, who are aged 20-25, will be the leaders of a new generation of rabbi, pioneering co-existence.  

“It’s a real bridge builder, opening the hearts of people in other countries to share the values of peace and what better way to do that, than to help a rabbi grow and train in the UAE and take that positive experience back with them and these values will filter back to the Jewish communities around the world,” he said.

Israeli Menachem Lessoff, 21, was one of the first batch of rabbis to come to Dubai in September. “In Dubai, we got to see everything being built from the start, for example how hotels are becoming kosher, setting up a kosher slaughterhouse, which you don’t see in a community that’s already established,” he said.

He said that meeting people who had never encountered Jews before made it a unique experience as an ambassador of his faith.

He added: “We felt very free and people were very respectful to us. It really felt like we were part of something historic.”