Rabbi Levi Duchman, the Chief Rabbi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE): today is marrying Lea Hadad of Brussels, Belgium.
Rabbi Duchman has been living in the UAE for eight years, building much of the critical infrastructure for Jewish life there, which has become the Arab world’s fastest growing community.
1,500 guests from around the world are attending the wedding, the largest Jewish event in the Arabian Gulf in recent history, including Emirati royals, prominent rabbis, and dignitaries.
The wedding, coinciding with the second anniversary of the Abraham Accords, is being held up as a demonstration and living experience of the Emirates’ longstanding investment in creating a culture of coexistence and religious diversity.
The couple will continue Rabbi Duchman’s long commitment to building the UAE’s Jewish community, together from their home in Abu Dhabi.
Since 2014, Rabbi Duchman has built the infrastructure for Jewish life across the Emirates, establishing Jewish communities, institutions and houses of worship across Abu Dhabi and Dubai, including a Jewish school, Hebrew supplemental school, a Mikvah for the Jewish rite of purification, and the government-licensed Kosher agency. He has also brought several rabbis to the UAE to join him in serving the community, and established a rabbinical training program for rabbinical interns.
Through Rabbi Duchman’s efforts, Jewish life in the UAE and the region has flourished beyond the network of institutions he has created, with the establishment of private kosher businesses, relocation of Israeli and Jewish businesses to the Emirates, and the creation of other Jewish establishments.
The wedding is being held today, September 14, 2022. According to the Hebrew calendar the date is 18 of the month of Elul, a day of great sanctity in the Chassidic tradition, the birthdate of The Baal Shemtov (1698), the founder of the Chassidic movement, and Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745), the founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.