From the shadows into the open
Life will change dramatically for the nearly 2,000 Jews living in the Emirates
Everything in the house of the head of the Jewish Council in the UAE, Ross Kriel, from paintings, tools of worship and prayer, indicates his religion. This is in addition to books in Hebrew that he teaches his daughter, Eve and his son, Isaac, along with the Torah.
The Kriel family, who hail from South Africa, have lived in Dubai since 2013 and practised their religious rituals openly. Isaac calls Dubai home and says “we are back home” when the family returns to the UAE from abroad.
With the peace treaty signed by the UAE and Israel, many things will change in Kriel family and the lives of nearly 2,000 Jews working and living in the UAE, especially in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which have the largest number of community members.
Thanks to the historic peace deal, Ross can now call Israel directly by dialing the international code 972, and he can also travel directly to Tel Aviv to see the rest of his family and friends. Prior to this, he used to travel to Israel via Jordan, Cyprus or Turkey. “Trips,” he says “were tiring and long.”
KOSHER FOOD
With the arrival of more Jewish families in the UAE,
Ross’ wife, Elli used to offer them kosher Jewish food. Noticing demand for such food, she decided to open a restaurant in February 2019, which was the first Jewish restaurant in the UAE. Elli’s Kosher Kitchen today has a food delivery and catering service offering certified kosher food.
As for the most preferred items, it is the Halah bread and the Babka bread, which is made with chocolate. Halah is a special bread in Jewish cuisine, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat and major Jewish holidays. A babka is a sweet braided bread or cake, which originated in the Jewish communities of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Elli explains both are present on every Jewish table and are very common in the United States and Europe. As for the Jewish cuisine, Elli says it consists of various dishes because most of the Jews come from different countries.
WORKING IN THE UAE
The Jews living in the UAE belong to different countries and they work in several fields, such as the banking and financial sectors. Others tend to work in the legal, insurance and health fields, and they are largely integrated into the Emirati society, which also includes different nationalities and religions.
Alex Peterfreuind, a Belgian Jew, residing in the UAE and working in the diamond trade since 2008, told BBC News Arabic:
“Since my first day in the UAE, I have not hidden my religion because I do not think that there is a Muslim who has to hide his religion if he lives in a European country.”
Alex and Ross first started praying together, although Jewish prayer requires at least 10 people to take place. But due to the small number at the time and the unwillingness of some of them to reveal their religion publicly, the two men decided to pray alone at Ross’ house.
Today, their number has increased, and prayers are held in its natural form in a synagogue in Dubai, where Jews residing in the Emirates gather to practise their rituals and celebrate their religious, social and cultural events.
JEWISH SYNAGOGUE
Levi Dachman, a Jew who arrived from New York five years ago to Dubai, is currently the rabbi of the Jewish community in UAE.
Dachman was the one who blew the Jewish trumpet, or the so-called shofar, during the dawn prayer in honour of the Israeli mission that visited the UAE last month on the first direct trip between the two countries.
Dachman says that the Jewish community has been in the UAE for nearly 15 years and has been celebrating and practising with each other since then.
The rabbi revealed that a synagogue will be part of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi.
NO WAR HISTORY
Interviewed by
BBC News Arabic,
some members of the Jewish community in the UAE say they were living in extreme silence and privacy, and they expected the Jewish community to become more open with the normalisation agreement.
The head of the Jewish community, Solly Wolf, who has lived in the UAE for nearly 20 years, says that it is different from what happened with Egypt and Jordan, where the people of Israel, Egypt and Jordan were unable to establish peace due to previous wars between these countries.
Wolf added that many families in Egypt, Jordan and Israel lost their members in these wars, so there is a state of hostility between them, but the situation is different with the UAE, as no war occurred between the two parties.
Wolf considers that Israeli peace with Egypt and Jordan was peace between governments and not between people, as he put it, so he is not surprised to see an agreement signed between the UAE and Israel.
The head describes the Emirati society as a welcoming and tolerant society, pointing out that all matters related to the religion of the Jewish community are available in UAE, from kosher food to religious and educational books.