Sephardi Chief Rabbi to visit UAE Jewish community, inaugurate new school

By CELIA JEAN

DECEMBER 19, 2020 15:40

Updated: DECEMBER 19, 2020 17:40

SEPHARDI CHIEF Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST) — SEPHARDI CHIEF Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef

(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

He will also invest Rabbi Levi Duchman as Rabbi of the Emirati Jewish community.

Israel’s chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef left on Thursday to visit the Jewish community of the United Arab Emirates marking the first time a sitting chief rabbi has visited an Arab country.

During the visit, scheduled to extend between December 17-20, he will participate in a number of exciting activities such as the inauguration of the newly certified Jewish nursery school and in a special ceremony, invest Rabbi Levi Duchman as Rabbi of the Emirati Jewish community.

“The visit of the chief rabbi is as historic as it is a great honor for us to host him here in the Emirates,” said Duchman, rabbi of the JCC where Yosef will be hosted as guest of honor for Shabbat.

“We are excited to welcome him as we dedicate and break ground on several of our new institutions, which are being constructed with the swiftness and efficiency for which the UAE has become world-famous,” Duchman added.

In his time there, Yosef will also break ground on the community’s planned mikveh (ritual immersion pool), tour the new KAF kosher restaurant in the Burj Khalifa, inspect the production of kosher poultry locally, and dedicate a new community synagogue in Abu Dhabi.

“This historic visit epitomizes the historic achievements of the past months,” said Daniel Seal, a trustee of the Beit Tefillah Synagogue – the first and currently sole certified synagogue in Abu Dhabi.

“With gratitude to the crown prince, his Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, we are now able to celebrate a new era of cooperation in the region, and we are setting out to ensure that Jews who come to work or visit in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and across the Emirates, will have access to Jewish institutions and services,” Seal added.

Some tens of thousands of Israelis have already reportedly traveled to the UAE just weeks after commercial flights were established between the Jewish State and the UAE.

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“Dubai has already seen the wave of Israelis visiting since the Abraham Accords, and this is just the beginning of the potential for tourism and cooperation between Israel and the Emirates,” said President of the JCC in Dubai Solly Wolf.

“The visit of the chief rabbi I hope will go a long way to cementing the good faith and warm friendships between the Jewish and Muslim peoples of the region,” Wolf said.