Now in Dubai: Passover Celebrations
DUBAI—This year the Jewish celebration of Passover, which began on Friday, is being celebrated in the United Arab Emirates, where a small Jewish community has established the first new congregations in an Arab nation since the founding of Israel in 1948. Jewish immigrants see Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the U.A.E.’s capital, as havens from anti-Semitism that also have the benefit of low taxes and relaxed Covid rules. The country’s strict laws against hate speech toward any religion—not just Islam—leave some Jews feeling safer wearing a yarmulke in Dubai than they do in some Western cities.
The Jewish presence is as visible as it has ever been for the weeklong Passover holiday. In a first for the U.A.E., two dozen Jewish residents gathered at a private home in Dubai last month to bake matzo, the unleavened bread that is integral to Passover celebrations. The organizers also distributed hundreds of pounds of matzo in the country and neighboring ones. Similar events took place in Abu Dhabi.
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The Jewish population has grown to roughly 2,000, according to Jews leading congregations, dividing from a few dozen in just one congregation into at least four groups, which range from liberal to orthodox. They have begun building the infrastructure of Jewish life: kindergartens, synagogues, kosher caterers and restaurants and even a mikvah, a ritual bath. Their hope is to create a permanent place for Jews among the mosaic of foreigners who make up 90% of the U.A.E.’s population. The U.A.E is an autocratic state, with Islam as its official religion. There is little room for open discussion of political views, meaning its new Jewish residents hesitate to discuss Israeli policy in public despite the recent normalization agreement. However, the country allows expatriates a largely Western lifestyle and in recent years has introduced longer-term visas and policies, such as decriminalizing cohabitation for unmarried couples and consumption of alcohol without a license, aimed at attracting more white-collar international expertise.
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The total number of Jews in the U.A.E. in the late 2000s was around 40, and they purposely kept a low profile and didn’t flag their existence to U.A.E. authorities, according to Giacomo Arazi, an early member. Events beyond their control gave them pause, such as the 2010 assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai, blamed on Israeli intelligence services, and conflicts between the Islamist movement and Israel.
This community often met at Mr. Arazi’s home in Dubai and began vetting new members and non-Jews who attended events following the Mossad hit, he said. Things got more formal with the arrival in 2013 of Mr. Kriel, an orthodox Jew who for years had visited Dubai from his native South Africa. Another newcomer, Alex Peterfreund, from Belgium, was the first who could read aloud Hebrew texts. Before their arrival, the community was more secular and services were usually conducted by visiting rabbis. Together, they borrowed a Torah scroll from a synagogue in London by convincing a member to carry it through Dubai’s airport in a bag for golf clubs.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/passover-jews-abraham-accords-u-a-e-11650048749 (subscription)