Muslim guarding Jewish prayer epitomizes UAE tolerance, Chief Rabbi says – News

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When an Arab Muslim woman stood guard for a Jewish prayer at Abu Dhabi airport, he said she “embodied the UAE’s spirit of ethics of tolerance.”

This sense of appreciation for tolerance in the United Arab Emirates was further strengthened later “when I had the privilege of meeting His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates. armed forces of the United Arab Emirates, ”revealed Rabbi Yehuda Sarna. , Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of the United Arab Emirates.

Speaking to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on Thursday about his first visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2009 for a college assignment at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), he said: “C ‘ was my first visit to an Arab country. After landing at Abu Dhabi Airport on a busy morning, as the time for morning prayer approached, I had no choice but to pray at the airport. “

Muslim woman identifies a Jewish prayer shawl

He found a seat in the airport lounge and pulled out his prayer shawl. Then an Etihad Airways flight attendant, a young Moroccan woman, approached him and “spoke to me in Hebrew, recognizing me as a Jew by my prayer shawl.”

She knew a little Hebrew because her neighbor from Casablanca was Jewish when she was little. “She helped me find a little more private place in the busy airport and stood guard while I prayed, then offered me breakfast afterward.”

His kind hospitality made him immediately feel at home.

“She embodies the UAE spirit of an ethic of tolerance. I’m sure she thought she wasn’t doing anything special. She was just doing, of course, anyone in the UAE would, but its impact has been huge, at home, which means you could be yourself, ”he said.

To feel at home is to be yourself

“You could be yourself, which means you are recognized and respected for who you are and you don’t have to try to hide your identity. And that’s how she made me feel,” Rabbi Sarna added in a Zoom interview from New York.

In 2009, few Jews visited the United Arab Emirates, he said. He later realized how much the rulers instilled such an environment of religious tolerance in all who live in this country.

“I had the privilege, along with a group representing the Jewish community, to meet His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. We gave His Highness a gift during the Year of Tolerance. [in 2019] as an expression of gratitude, ”he revealed.

He was inspired and touched by this meeting, “because of the way His Highness spoke to us with gentleness, calm and wisdom; and the way he listened to us ”.

Rabbi Sarna said he had the opportunity to meet several world leaders. “But none behave with the same sense of humility, responsibility and foresight as His Highness. I will never forget those moments which really touched me,” the rabbi said on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Abraham’s historic accords.

Festive atmosphere on the first anniversary

The deal brokered by the United States normalized diplomatic relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel on September 15, 2020, which paved the way for Israel to establish diplomatic relations with three other Arab countries: Bahrain, the Morocco and Sudan.

The rabbi attended several events celebrating the first anniversary of the Abrahamic Accords in New York City. “The mood is party everywhere. We have accomplished so much in one year.”

The Abraham Accords got Muslims and Jews to know each other better, said the chief rabbi who provides spiritual leadership to the local Jewish community to help build and develop Jewish life in the Gulf.

“This is the key so that as many people as possible get to know each other. We live in a world where we come into contact with more cultures with more and more frequency and with increasingly high stakes,” he said. -He underlines.

“As we learn that we are all human and listen to each other’s stories, we will have a better planet.”

One of the most diverse Jewish communities in the world

About 1,000 Jews living in the United Arab Emirates represent one of the most diverse Jewish communities in the world, as they come from all over the world, said Rabbi Sarna. “Everyone carries their own culture and tradition.”

Realizing the various eating habits of the community, they began to compile a cookbook of these great varieties of recipes.

“Food isn’t just about consumption, it’s really about history and culture. The diversity has manifested itself in the food, it’s interesting.”

“We have grown our Jewish community infrastructure so quickly with kosher food, modes of gathering and different types of institutions that we are putting in place,” he continued.

Although it is a small community, “we receive thousands of Jewish tourists from all over the world who have started visiting the Emirates since the signing of the Abrahamic Accords.”

He first arrived in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 through his post at New York University (NYU), where he is the university chaplain and executive director of the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life.

Through his work and frequent visits to the NYU Abu Dhabi campus, Rabbi Sarna bonded with the United Arab Emirates and later was asked to lead the Jewish community in religious and spiritual matters and to serve as representative to the government and authorities of the United Arab Emirates.


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