History of the Jews in the United Arab Emirates

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the principal centers of contemporary Jewish life in the United Arab Emirates.[1] The modern community developed among foreign residents after the federation’s formation in 1971, particularly as Dubai became an international business hub; it did not emerge from a historic Dubai Jewish community.[4] Its members have included entrepreneurs, academics, and other professionals from different countries, with early communal relationships developing through private Shabbat dinners, holiday observances, and life-cycle celebrations.[5]

By September 2020, Jewish residents came from Europe, North America, South Africa, and the Arab world and worked in occupations including teaching, technology, nursing, and business.[6] Communal institutions subsequently included religious schools, kindergartens, synagogues, mikvahs, and kosher restaurants, alongside organizations providing Sabbath and festival worship and life-cycle services.[1] This institutional development accompanied increasing public acceptance of Jewish practice in Dubai, including men wearing kippot in public.[1]

Population figures have varied substantially by date and scope.[1][7] An estimate of approximately 1,000, mostly in Dubai, appeared alongside a broader range of 500–3,000, while the Jewish Agency’s September 2020 announcement described more than 1,000 community members.[1][6] For 2024, local community members estimated a noncitizen Jewish population of fewer than 10,000.[7] These figures describe an overwhelmingly foreign-resident community rather than an indigenous Jewish population.[7]

Benjamin of Tudela’s twelfth-century account contains a reference to a Jewish community in a place called Kis, identified in modern Jewish historical accounts with present-day Ras al-Khaimah.[1][8] A surviving Hebrew-inscribed tombstone, unearthed by local residents in the 1970s, is held at Ras al-Khaimah’s National Museum.[9] It bears the name David, son of Moses, and includes legible Hebrew writing and some Judeo-Arabic.[9] Jewish traders dealing in precious gems also traveled to the region to acquire pearls during the late medieval and early modern periods.[1]

The contemporary expatriate community took shape after the UAE’s establishment in 1971, as Jews moved to the country for homes, employment, and commercial opportunities, especially in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.[4][8] In the wider context of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the departure of most Jews from Arab lands, some residents kept their Jewish identities private.[5] Religious observance often remained within homes, making the community difficult to count.[4]

Among early participants arriving around 2008 were Sharon and Simon Eder, Ranna and Giacomo Arazi, and Michael and Martine Nates.[10] Two families moving from London found a handful of other Jews, including expatriates working in finance, law, energy, and diamonds, but no organized community.[8] Informal gatherings began in private homes in 2008, although Jewish residents had already lived in the country for decades.[1] An early member estimated that about 40 Jews lived in the UAE at the end of the 2000s, maintaining a deliberately low profile.[11]

One formative gathering took place in 2010, after Sharon Eder and her husband met a Chabad rabbi in Sri Lanka and connected with a Jewish resident of Abu Dhabi.[10] They arranged for the rabbi to visit Dubai for Yom Kippur, and 35 people attended services in an apartment.[10] Afterward, residents hosted Sabbath dinners in different homes, drawing people who had previously practiced privately or had not practiced for years.[10] Religious-freedom reporting for 2010 described a small expatriate Jewish population observing holidays in private residences without interference, with no synagogue available.[12] A 2014 account similarly described private holiday and ceremonial observance without interference.[13]

Chabad involvement extended back to at least 2008, when Jewish business travelers requested rabbinical assistance to develop local Jewish life.[14] Rabbinical students came to Dubai for Yom Kippur in 2010 and continued visiting for festivals.[14] Rabbi Levi Duchman first visited in winter 2015, subsequently led a Passover seder in Abu Dhabi, and moved to the country that year.[14]

Ross and Elli Kriel arrived in Dubai in 2013, when Ross Kriel recalled a community of about 30 or 40 Jews.[10] A regular minyan began in 2014, and Kriel described its beginnings in his living room.[1][10] In 2015, he leased a residence on behalf of the Jewish Council of the Emirates that became known as “The Villa,” serving as a synagogue and community center.[10] By December 2018, worship took place in a rented villa with a kosher kitchen and guest bedrooms.[8] Services followed Orthodox liturgy and included a benediction for the UAE’s rulers.[8]

The villa community received Torah scrolls from Eli Epstein, London’s Marble Arch Synagogue, and Temple Brith Shalom in Erie, Pennsylvania.[8] Even as its existence became publicly known, members asked that the location remain undisclosed, and some requested anonymity.[8] Visitors generally learned about the congregation by word of mouth, and its address was shared after vetting.[15] Community leaders sought to reconcile security precautions with the development of sustainable, organized Jewish life.[15]

Public recognition advanced during the UAE’s 2019 Year of Tolerance.[10] In February, during Pope Francis’s visit, the government publication Celebrating Tolerance included Jews among the country’s religious communities; its preface was written by Minister of Tolerance Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan.[16] The Ministry of Tolerance officially recognized the local Jewish population that month.[8] The community adopted a constitution and held its first elections in 2019, selecting Ross Kriel as its first president and Rabbi Yehuda Sarna as chief rabbi.[1]

The Jewish Council of the Emirates was formally established in 2019 as an umbrella body and an official link with the government.[10] Kriel, Alex Peterfreund, and other participants helped organize it.[11] Sarna, a New York University chaplain, agreed in May to serve as the community’s first chief rabbi in an unpaid position, traveling to Dubai approximately every other month for holiday services.[8] His appointment was announced at an event cohosted with the UAE Embassy in Washington and the Anti-Defamation League.[17] That year, Jewish residents also presented a sacred Torah scroll to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.[18]

The government announced plans in February 2019 for an official synagogue in Abu Dhabi within the Abrahamic Family House, alongside a mosque and church.[17] Although Abu Dhabi licensed 18 houses of worship in September, granting them legal status, the Jewish congregation was not among those listed.[17] Negotiations over recognition and suitable worship premises continued as the community became more publicly visible.[10]

The announcement of Israel-UAE normalization on August 13, 2020, followed by the signing of the Abraham Accords on September 15, brought the community greater international attention.[19][10] Before normalization, the UAE did not officially recognize Israel and Israeli passport holders could not legally enter the country, although Israel had received permission in 2015 to maintain an Abu Dhabi diplomatic office connected to the International Renewable Energy Agency.[19] Jewish residents described normalization as allowing them to become more public after years of caution about communal organizing.[10]

On September 1, 2020, the Jewish Agency and Keren Hayesod announced that they would begin providing services to the UAE community.[6] Sarna sought support for Jewish education, identity, and summer camps, describing the transition in these words: “After years of operating with great discretion, on the margins of the global Jewish community, we are now ready to formally ‘get on the grid.’”[6] Following normalization, the government also unblocked some websites containing information about Judaism.[2]

Institutional recognition continued in 2021, when Dubai’s Community Development Authority licensed Gates of the East in February, allowing it to obtain religious-worker visas.[18] Kriel became Jewish Representative to the authority that year.[1] Abu Dhabi also licensed a Jewish congregation that held weekly services in rented premises.[18] Dubai congregants continued renting hotel rooms, while construction proceeded on the Abrahamic Family House synagogue in Abu Dhabi.[18]

The Abrahamic Family House opened in February 2023, bringing together separate Jewish, Muslim, and Christian houses of worship with shared exhibition and conference spaces.[20] The Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue was inaugurated on February 16, with its first Sabbath services held that week.[21] Named for Maimonides, the twelfth-century philosopher and rabbinical scholar, it was the UAE’s first purpose-built synagogue.[3][22] During 2023 it hosted Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot services.[3]

Later developments also brought security concerns.[3][7] After the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, Jewish community leaders reported increased antisemitic incidents on social media and in schools.[22] Public services in Dubai were suspended as a precaution from October 7, while services continued at the Abu Dhabi synagogue with sharply reduced attendance.[3] In November 2024, Israeli-Moldovan Rabbi Zvi Kogan was reported missing and was found dead near the Omani border on November 24, three days later.[7] UAE authorities arrested three suspects in coordination with Turkey; by the end of 2024 they had not established a motive, while Israeli officials said he had been targeted because he was Jewish.[7]

Kogan had served in the UAE since 2020 as a Chabad emissary, managing a kosher grocery store and contributing to Jewish cultural activities.[19] Another figure associated with communal development, Solly Wolf, died on February 5, 2025, aged 75.[8] He had moved to the UAE in 2002 and worked to foster interfaith relations and connections with Emirati leaders.[8]

The Jewish Council of the Emirates and a Jewish Community Centre associated with Chabad developed as parallel communal structures.[23] The council was associated with Chief Rabbi Yehuda Sarna and Senior Rabbi Elie Abadie, while Rabbi Levi Duchman led the Jewish Community Centre.[23] By 2022, leaders described at least four groups spanning liberal to Orthodox affiliations, developing kindergartens, prayer spaces, kosher catering, restaurants, and a mikveh.[11] Duchman also established the organization Jewish UAE and a kosher-supervision agency certifying hotels and restaurants.[11]

Religious life included regular Sabbath and major-holiday services, family celebrations, and education.[1] A 2019 congregation met in a private home containing an ark and Torah scroll and held Kiddush after worship.[16] In 2020, regular worship still took place in private Dubai villas and hotels, while the official Abu Dhabi synagogue remained a future project.[2] A study based on 2021 fieldwork described a Jewish religious school, a Jewish Community Centre, and two functioning synagogues in Dubai.[23]

The expansion of kosher provision was particularly visible after normalization.[2] Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism advised hotels to include kosher options in room service and food outlets, prepare kitchens for Jewish dietary requirements, and arrange continuing kashrut supervision.[2] Its guidance stated: “All hotel establishments are advised to include kosher food options on room service menus and at all food and beverage outlets in their establishments.”[2] Dubai’s first kosher restaurant, Kaf, opened in the Burj Khalifa on September 17, 2020.[2]

Religious food provision had also developed through individual communal efforts.[24] By June 2020, Duchman was supplying challah and wine for Shabbat, arranging kosher meals, importing kosher meat from the United States, and introducing local kosher slaughter.[24] Wolf described a slaughter operation capable of providing about 1,000 chickens weekly and growing supermarket availability of matzah, charoset, and ingredients for gefilte fish.[24] These arrangements supported both resident observance and the needs of Jewish visitors.[10][24]

Abu Dhabi’s first kosher restaurant opened in May 2022.[25] By September, eight kosher restaurants were operating across the UAE, and Dubai had several kosher restaurants, a mikveh, and a Jewish nursery school.[26][25] Rimon Market opened in December 2022 and was described locally as the Gulf’s first kosher supermarket.[25] These businesses joined religious schools and ritual facilities in providing an increasingly extensive infrastructure for Jewish daily life.[1][25]

Education developed alongside worship and food services.[1] The Dubai Talmud Torah had approximately 45 children in August 2020.[24] A school-planning initiative involving Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry, the United organization, and philanthropic partners envisaged a Jewish school for the following academic year and anticipated around 200 children in the community.[27] By September 2022, more than 200 people had enrolled in programs across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including kindergarten, Hebrew school, Talmud Torah, and adult education.[26]

Jewish life-cycle observance became increasingly public.[2] An account published in January 2020 described a circumcision ceremony in Abu Dhabi for the son of a couple who had previously lived in Berlin, with morning prayers and a Torah reading before the ceremony.[28] A mohel who had worked in the UAE for several years performed it, accompanied by Berlin’s Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal.[28] Dubai hosted a Jewish wedding on December 1, 2020, identified at the time as the country’s first.[2]

In September 2022, Duchman married Leah Haddad in Abu Dhabi exactly two years after the signing of the Abraham Accords.[29] More than 1,500 guests attended, including Emirati royal and government figures, international rabbis, diplomats, and businesspeople of different faiths.[29] The celebration was described as the largest Jewish event held in the UAE and the largest Jewish wedding in the Persian Gulf.[29]

The community also developed regional connections.[18] In February 2021, Jewish communities in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia announced the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities and incorporated it in Dubai.[18] Its leadership included Rabbi Elie Abadie and president Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo, a Bahraini citizen.[18] The association planned a Jewish court addressing civil disputes, personal status, inheritance, and ritual matters, as well as an Arabian Kosher Certification Agency serving the six countries.[18]

Migration from elsewhere in the Arab world contributed to Abu Dhabi’s Jewish population.[26] From September 2020, the community received dozens of Jews from Yemen, among the last Jews remaining there.[26] Other growth after the Abraham Accords involved Jewish and Israeli visitors and businesspeople, alongside established residents.[26] In 2022, prayers in Abu Dhabi still took place in a hotel while preparations continued for the new synagogue.[26]

Formal recognition did not eliminate practical difficulties in accessing worship.[3][25] Dubai’s Gates of the East retained its license while renting hotel rooms and discussing a synagogue with the government.[25] An offered site at a Jebel Ali religious compound was difficult for Sabbath-observant Jews to reach without driving.[25] At the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, the absence of nearby housing likewise created walking-distance problems, especially during summer heat.[3]

In 2023, Gates of the East had to renew a temporary license every three months and obtain permits for particular services.[3] Federal Law 9 of 2023, the Houses of Worship Law, entered into force on November 30, establishing baseline licensing, financing, operational, and oversight requirements for non-Muslim houses of worship while retaining emirate-level authority.[3] The law required licensed premises and prohibited religious activities outside them; establishing or operating an unlicensed house of worship could incur imprisonment and fines.[3][22] Religious groups continued to describe some licensing requirements as unclear.[22]

Public Jewish holiday celebrations became a prominent expression of the community’s changing visibility.[2] During Sukkot in 2020, community members built a sukkah outside a hotel near the Burj Khalifa, and December brought public Hanukkah celebrations, including a large menorah lit in front of the tower.[2] Emiratis and Israelis also participated in shared celebrations, including a joint iftar and Lag BaOmer meal after the Abraham Accords.[5]

The Abrahamic Family House gave Jewish worship a permanent place within a government-sponsored interfaith complex.[3] Its synagogue, mosque, and church stood as separate houses of worship within a shared setting for exhibitions and conferences.[20] Plans for the complex preceded normalization with Israel, having been announced in 2019.[17] The increased visibility of Judaism therefore involved both domestic recognition and the subsequent opening of diplomatic relations.[17][19]

Holocaust remembrance also became part of the UAE’s public cultural landscape.[5] In May 2021, Dubai’s Crossroads of Civilizations Museum unveiled “We Remember” in the presence of the Israeli and German ambassadors.[5] The exhibition included material on Nazi persecution, photographs and exhibits commemorating murdered Jewish children, and survivors’ personal testimonies.[5] It also contained a section about Muslims who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust.[23]

Researchers visiting shortly after the opening described it as the Gulf’s first exhibition dedicated to Holocaust victims.[23] The museum’s Emirati founder offered space for a possible exhibition on anti-Jewish violence in the Middle East if supporting documentation could be provided.[23] Ross Kriel said “We Remember” reflected “a new discourse that is emerging in the UAE, which is rooted in mutual respect and human compassion.”[5]

Further educational initiatives included plans to introduce Holocaust education into the UAE curriculum, with Yad Vashem working with the Ministry of Culture and Youth on curriculum development.[8] The government-sponsored Manara Center, developed with the Anti-Defamation League, was intended to counter intolerance, including through outreach to university students.[8]

Experiences of coexistence also appeared in qualitative research conducted in Dubai in late May and early June 2021.[23] During that period’s Israel-Palestinian escalation, interviewees said they had not experienced verbal or physical antisemitic threats in Dubai; two said police had contacted them to ask whether they felt safe.[23] Community events nevertheless required visible security or a metal detector.[23] The research included interviews, observation at a bar mitzvah and Shabbat dinner, and shorter conversations, with eight in-depth interviews involving six Jewish and two Muslim participants.[23]

Evidence for a premodern Jewish community specifically within today’s UAE is limited: broader Jewish settlement across the Arabian Peninsula does not establish a pre-Islamic local community, and virtually no archaeological traces attest to one.[1] The identification of Benjamin of Tudela’s Kis with Ras al-Khaimah remains an interpretation, while the tombstone’s historical setting is uncertain.[8][9] Historian Timothy Power suggested a possible connection to migration from Persia through Hormuz, whose commercial prosperity peaked between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries; this is a hypothesis rather than an established identification.[9]

Accounts of when a “synagogue” first existed use different terminology for private prayer rooms, rented villas, congregations, and officially sponsored buildings.[12][21] Earlier private worship and the opening of the purpose-built Abu Dhabi synagogue are consequently distinct milestones.[10][21] Population estimates likewise concern different dates and scopes, ranging from approximately 200–300 in one account for 2020 to fewer than 10,000 in later local estimates.[8][7]

The promotion of interfaith tolerance has also attracted criticism as image-building or “faith-washing,” an interpretation discussed in academic research rather than an established explanation for Jewish communal development.[23] Small qualitative studies of coexistence and security do not provide population-wide assessments or establish conditions for every period.[23]