History Made in Abu Dhabi as Abrahamic Family House is Inaugurated;  Emirati President to Donate Torah Scroll

History Made in Abu Dhabi as Abrahamic Family House is Inaugurated;  Emirati President to Donate Torah Scroll

Edited by: Fern Sidman

A landmark event was celebrated on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, according to published reports. In a ceremony that kicked off a series of events over the weekend in Abu Dhabi, the Moses Ben Maimon synagogue was inaugurated on and will hold its first Sabbath services this Saturday, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.  The synagogue is part of the Abrahamic Family House on Saadiyat Island, which contains houses of worship for the three Abrahamic faiths: A synagogue, a mosque and a church, the JPost report said. The Times of Israel reported that it was initially slated to open in 2022.

On Sunday, a Torah scroll donated by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be brought to the synagogue in a dedication ceremony, the TOI reported.

Each house of worship was carefully designed, incorporating traditional materials and architecture used in all three faiths. The church’s altar is pointing east, the mosque pointed toward the Kaaba in Mecca and the synagogue bimah (a raised platform with a reading desk for reading the Torah) and Torah scrolls faced towards Jerusalem, the JPost reported.

The Abrahamic Family House project was announced after Pope Francis’s visit to the UAE in 2019, the first by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula, according to the TOI report. During the trip, the pope signed a joint declaration with the grand imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, that called for religious tolerance and dialogue. An interfaith council to oversee projects advancing tolerance was formed as a result of the declaration, and named the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, the TOI report said. The Abrahamic Family House was its first initiative.

Writing in a Times of Israel blog article, author Jason Isaacson said, “When the Pope had come to the UAE – the first papal visit to the Arabian Gulf – he and Sheikh Ahmad had signed “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” an affirmation of shared values and solidarity against extremism, and “an invitation to reconciliation and fraternity among all believers, indeed among believers and non-believers, and among all people of good will.” The document in itself was hailed as historic; the announcement seven months later of its physical realization in a complex of harmoniously arranged houses of worship – including the first synagogue to be built on the Arabian Peninsula in almost a century – was revolutionary.”

Isaacson continued by saying, “In a roll-out event at the New York Public Library in September 2019, the award-winning Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Frank Adjaye, designer of the iconic National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, displayed his plans for the identically sized and intricately crafted mosque, church, and synagogue, along with adjoining conference, exhibition, and office space, that would occupy a site on Saadiyat Island across Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street from the Louvre Abu Dhabi.”

Isaacson added, “Witnesses to the presentation – myself included – were awestruck. Unsurprisingly, given the vision of Sheikh Mohammed and the recognized brilliance of Sir David, the plans for what would be named the Abrahamic Family House were stunning in their grandeur, but also in their attention to detail, their clean lines, their balance of common and distinct religious traditions.”

A conference on Thursday and Friday opened the synagogue, which included an attachment of the mezuzah (a parchment with Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews attach to their doorposts), as well as a guided tour, a ceremony and lunch for the Jewish community, as was reported by the JPost.

On Friday, a conference is set to take place to discuss future relations between the religions, the JPost reported. Among the expected speakers is Rabbi David Rosen, AJC’s International Director of Interreligious Affairs. The local community, under the baton of Rabbi Yehudah Sarna, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates, will hold Sabbath prayers and festivities, as was reported by the JPost.

President Mohamed bin Zayed had been expected to participate in the opening ceremony on Thursday, but it was reported that his brother, Saif bin Zayed, the UAE’s Interior Minister, took his place, the JPost reported.

“There is no site like this in the entire world,” Rosen told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. Rosen, who visited all three sites said, “nowhere in the world are there three separate places of worship, established by a government, as well as an interfaith center near them. These are three stunning buildings.” Rosen explained that the fact that these three houses of prayer are located near all of the national and central museums in Abu Dhabi, “millions of tourists will visit these three places of worship since they have such amazing visibility. This is an opportunity to present our heritage of the Jewish People.”

An interfaith council to oversee projects advancing tolerance was formed as a result of the declaration, and The Abrahamic Family House was its first initiative, the Times of Israel reported.

Speaking to the Times of Israel, Rabbi M. Bruce Lustig, senior rabbi at Washington Hebrew Congregation, and a Jewish representative of the committee, said, “This is an important opportunity for all who believe in the power of faith and humanity. It will help build bridges between religious leaders and communities as well as foster peace and harmony in an era that is too often defined by difference.”

The UAE normalized relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords brokered by the administration of former President Donald Trump. Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner developed and orchestrated the historic pact, along with his associate Avi Berkowitz.

The JPost reported that the Abrahamic Family House website explained that the “synagogue presents a series of architectural thresholds that culminate in a shrouded, sanctified, built representation of communal prayer. The multi-layered facade of the synagogue recalls the Jewish Sukkot festival, where palm trees are harvested and communities build tents in their gardens as designated areas for gathering and eating.”

In January, the UAE embassy in Washington announced that the country would  begin teaching about the Holocaust in history classes in primary and secondary schools across the country, according to the TOI reported.

Last September, on the second anniversary of the Abraham Accords, 1,500 people gathered for the wedding of UAE Chabad Rabbi Levi Duchman, the largest Jewish wedding in the county’s history, the TOI report said. Over the past eight years, Duchman has overseen the opening of a Jewish school, Hebrew supplemental school, ritual bath and the government-licensed kosher agency of the UAE, which has a community of a few thousand Jews.

The TOI report also indicated that Duchman is one of several Orthodox rabbis working to cultivate Jewish life in the UAE, including Elie Abadie and Sarna, who are not affiliated with Chabad.