Historic Rosh Hashana Prayers In Abu Dhabi, Capital Of UAE

ABU DHABI (VINnews) — For the first time in history, a synagogue in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, opened on Rosh Hashana for public prayers.

Rabbi Levi Duchman, who serves as the rabbi of the 1500-strong local Jewish community, has been active until now in Dubai, one of the seven emirates which make up the UAE, but there has never been official communal prayers in Abu Dhabi until now. Duchman said that he had organized Torah classes and study groups in the capital city previously, but there had never been a public minyan until this Rosh Hashana.

The new synagogue operates in a central and prominent area known as Saadiyat Island.  Rabbi Duchman said that “I am sure that the peace agreement with Israel was a catalyst for the opening of the synagogue and I am glad that the Jewish holiday prayers in Abu Dhabi were celebrated at home and did not have to travel to Dubai like every year. I thank our generous nation, whose leaders headed by Sheikh al-Zayed make every Jew feel at home here. Unlike quite a few countries, even Western ones where anti-Semitism is felt, here our activity is received with great sympathy by the authorities and the citizens.”

Rabbi Duchman brought in four yeshiva students from New York who officiated in various capacities at the Abu Dhabi minyan, with two serving as Chazan, one reading from the Torah and another blowing the shofar. About 20 people participated in the minyan including members of a Yemenite Jewish family smuggled out of Yemen last month.

Rabbi Duchman himself conducted services in Dubai, where there were three minyanim in three different regions. In the central one which included a festive dinner, 100 Jews participated and there were other minyanim in which 50 people participated.

בדובאי ערך הרב שלשה מנייני תפילות בשלשה אזורים שונים. במניין המרכזי שבהם, שכלל ארוחת חג, השתתפו מאה יהודים בכפוף להגבלת הקורונה ו־50 אחרים השתתפו בשני המניינים האחרים.