The first anniversary of the Association of Jewish Communities in the Gulf (AGJC) will be marked today (Tuesday).
The union includes representatives from the United Arab Emirates (which has the largest Jewish community in the region), Bahrain, and the tiny communities in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Its center is in Manama, the capital of Bahrain and its purpose is clear - the development of Jewish life in the area.
In fact, over the past year, more than a dozen personal and virtual events have taken place within the association, related to the Jewish holidays and the Jewish heritage, including Purim, Holocaust Remembrance Day and Slichot evenings.
The renewed Jewish way of life in the Gulf was expressed in a series of events, including at a bat mitzvah held in Oman, when a bar mitzvah ceremony was held in Bahrain for the first time in 16 years at the "House of Ten Commandments", when the boy called from the Bible Senior President of the United States, Donald Trump - In honor of the King of Bahrain, Hemed bin Isa al-Khalifa.
In addition, the island state in the Persian Gulf archipelago also hosted a strictly kosher Jewish wedding - an event that last time took place no less than 52 years ago.
Union center in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, Photo: Reuters
And that's not all: last October, the union launched JSG - a new matchmaking platform for Jewish communities in the area, so that it could be a milestone for Jewish community growth in the Dubai area.
The leaders of the local community, under the auspices of the Abrahamic Agreements, received a strong boost for strategic planning of community expansion - both at the educational and religious level and in community terms, and the intention is of course to nurture and expand it.
This is the first Jewish dating site in the area, which sought to pair up with local Jewish singles under the JSG (Jewish Singles in the Gulf) platform.
The site encourages those interested to fill out a questionnaire, and then a group of matchmakers recommend accommodations.
Government officials alongside rabbis and board members welcomed the impressive milestone.
Rabbi Dr. Eli Abadi, who heads the union and is the local senior rabbi of the community in the UAE, stressed: “The union has changed the way Jews live in the Gulf.
"Today, the Jewish communities can maintain their faith, the mark of their clothing and their customs in public with great commitment."
President of the Association of Jewish Communities in the Gulf and President of the Jewish Community in Bahrain, Ibrahim Daoud Nono.
"Each of our communities has so much to offer others and especially with the tools that enable us to realize our Jewish lives."
Huda Nono, a Jewish diplomat - Bahraini and a Foreign Ministry employee of Bahrain, who served as the US ambassador to the United States, added.
I hope that in the next five years we will see more and more families move here and build their families here. "
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