The Chabad-Lubavitch movement last week announced that it had appointed an emissary of the movement to the United Arab Emirates.

According to the Chabad.org website, the representative is Rabbi Levi Duchman, who also serves as the rabbi of the United Arab Emirates.

Duchman first came to the UAE in the winter of 2015, leading a communal Passover seder in Abu Dhabi several months later before moving to the country the following year.

“At the time there were a number of Jewish families here already, and nothing by way of Jewish education,” Duchman told Chabad.org. Shortly after after his arrival in the country, he opened a Jewish school with 4 students which today numbers 40 students.

“Thank G‑d, Jewish life here in the UAE has been able to blossom like a desert rose,” Duchman said. “The coexistence and true respect people have for one another here is beautiful and unfortunately all too unique."

"It’s also clear that none of this could have happened without the support and vision of the UAE’s benevolent leader, his highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and is something the entire world can learn from.”