The Jewish Agency and Keren Hayesod will start operating in the Jewish community in the Emirates • The Agency is considering operating a regular emissary • Herzog: "Another chapter in the book of the Jewish people"

• Yitzhak Herzog

  Photo: 

  Oren Ben Hakon

Jewish Agency Chairman Yitzhak Herzog, Agency Director General Amira Aharonovitch and Keren Hayesod Chairman Sam Grundwar spoke last night (Monday) with the United Arab Emirates' Rabbi, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, and agreed to start operating and serving the Jewish community living in the Principality. . 

During the conversation, Rabbi Sarna asked the chairman of the agency for tools for Jewish education, preserving the Jewish identity in the kingdom, preserving community life and running summer camps. The two also agreed to consider running a mission on behalf of the agency that will be permanently stationed in the community. The world and are in daily contact with the communities. 

Following the talk, a special team will be formed in the coming days that will include representatives from the Jewish Agency, Keren Hayesod and the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), who will work with Rabbi Sarna, in order to identify and formulate the needs of the Jewish community in the area. 

The Jewish community in the UAE numbers over a thousand people and is located mainly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Members of the community have immigrated to principalities from countries around the world over the years, and are in fact the first Jewish community to be established in the Arab world in centuries.

Among the countries from which members of the community emigrated - Europe, North America, South Africa and Arab countries.

The chairman of the Jewish Agency, Yitzhak Herzog, said: "The entry of the Jewish Agency into activity in the Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates is the writing of another chapter in the fascinating history book of the Jewish people.

This is a diverse Jewish community, which takes place in the heart of an Arab state within the Middle East, and we will be happy to assist it in our variety of activities.

The historic peace agreement will make this possible and I hope that later we will see this in other countries in the region as well.

It is not for nothing that the conversation also takes place on the day when history is made and an Israeli-American delegation flies directly on an El Al plane from Israel to Abu Dhabi. "

The rabbi of the Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna: "After years of discreet activity and being on the fringes of the global Jewish community, we are now ready to officially step on the radar of the Jewish world. The partnership with the Jewish Agency brings connections we crave."

Keren Hayesod Chairman Sam Grundwar: "We are excited about Keren Hayesod, that after a hundred years in which we work together with the entire Jewish people, and maintain the ties between many dozens of Jewish communities and the State of Israel, now we can officially work together with our brothers and sisters In the Jewish community of the United Arab Emirates.

We are already looking forward to working together in all areas, including education, culture and community, and to deepening the special connection. "

The director general of the Jewish Agency, Amira Aharonovitch: "We are happy and excited to help them and help hundreds of Jewish families in the United Arab Emirates to maintain community life and strengthen their Jewish identity and connection to Israel.

This is exactly our unique role as a global and wonderful Jewish platform that will finally be possible in this remote community, which until today was closed to us. "