‘Next year in the UAE’

Rabbi Levi Duchman tells us how he fell in love with the United Arab Emirates in 2014 (“UAE’s first rabbi: Jewish life is flourishing here,” September 18). “This is where my community is and this is where I will stay for the rest of my life,” he says.

I’d be interested to know whether he ends the Passover service with “Next year in the UAE.” It certainly cannot be “Next year in Jerusalem,” the capital of the Land of Israel which God promised to our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their progeny in perpetuity. That, Rabbi Levi, means you!

He is hoping that within ten years, there will be a Jewish community that had 20,000-30,000 people. Shame on you and all the Jewish people like you who have forsaken God’s words that we are a people meant to dwell alone, which is why he returned us to our historic land as promised. Forgotten are the tragic events prior to and during WWII where our people also had a ‘wonderful’ life in Germany. EDITH OGNALL

Netanya

I found it somewhat jarring to read under the headline “Jewish life is flourishing here,” a description of Jews coming to live in Dubai. Whereas I applaud the newly open relations between Israel and the UAE as a result of the Abraham Accords, I hardly see Dubai as a new destination for Jewish aliyah.

Even as a place for students to spend their Passover vacations, it cannot compare in Jewish meaning to Israel. I think that “falling in love” as quoted regarding the UAE, is a term more expected regarding the Land of Israel, where Jewish life is truly flourishing. MARION REISS

Beit Shemesh