Rabbi Dr. Eli Abadie, a native of Beirut and a prominent member of the Jewish community in New York, will move to Dubai next month following the signing of the Abraham Accords and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE) announced.
Rabbi Abadie will serve as the second full-time rabbi for the Jewish community of Dubai.
“It is my distinct pleasure and honor to join and lead The Jewish Council of the Emirates as Senior Rabbi. Aside from my many years as a Senior Rabbi in New York City, I bring with me all of my heart and enormous excitement to this esteemed position. I look forward to meeting, teaching, and praying with all of the congregants and members of the Jewish community at large,” said Rabbi Abadie.
“I will be honored to share and celebrate in all of your semahot (celebrations) and rejoice in all of our holidays together. I feel like I’m coming home to my roots; to the region where I was born, to the language that I first spoke, and to the beautiful traditions and customs that I grew up with. Thank you for this wonderful invitation. Together we will grow and sow the seeds of the UAE Jewish community,” he added.
Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, the JCE representative in New York, stated that “The Jewish group of the Emirates deserves nothing better than a real renaissance man, a true talmid chacham in every sense of the word and a visionary builder. He comes not solely with a sense of indigeneity, being of the area, but also of internationalism. His fluency in both Arabic, in addition to six different languages, positions him as a unique resource to the entire region.”
Rabbi Abadie's family fled from Lebanon to Mexico as refugees. He went on to found the Edmund J Safra synagogue. Rabbi Abadie has served as the vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, co-president of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries and as a board member of the American Sephardi Federation and theWorld Sephardi Education Center.