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Arab world’s ‘1st purpose-built synagogue in century’ opens at UAE interfaith center
February 17, 2023
UK chief rabbi affixes mezuzah during inauguration of Abu Dhabi’s Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, which will host Shabbat prayers on Friday evening
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates on Thursday opened a center housing a mosque, church and the country’s first official synagogue with the aim of promoting interfaith coexistence in the Muslim nation.
At Thursday’s opening ceremony, UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis affixed a mezuzah to the entrance of the new Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, which he tweeted was “the first purpose-built synagogue in the Arab world for nearly a century.”
The oil-rich Gulf federation, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, is home to a small but active Jewish community that usually prays in private.
With three houses of worship in the same place, the Abrahamic Family House, inaugurated in the capital Abu Dhabi, is the first of its kind.
“The center will be a platform for learning and dialogue, a model of coexistence,” said its president, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak.
“Visitors are invited to participate in religious services, guided tours, celebrations and opportunities to explore faith,” he said in a statement released on Friday.
The three houses of worship are of equal stature and share the same external dimensions.
The only other synagogue in the Gulf Arab region is in Bahrain, which also has a small Jewish community.
The Association of Gulf Jewish Communities praised the UAE for opening another house of worship in the region.
“We are particularly excited to see another synagogue built in the GCC” (Gulf Cooperation Council), it said in a statement.
“There is something very special about a synagogue being built in a Muslim country.”
Later Friday, the local Jewish community will hold Shabbat prayers in the synagogue, led by UAE Chief Rabbi Yehuda Sarna.
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 2020 normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel was part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords that also saw the Jewish state establish diplomatic ties with Bahrain and Morocco.