Page 19 - HaMizrachi #27 Purim USA 2021

GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna
Approaching

the Throne

hat is it really like to approach to participate as such in greeting Pope intimate and modest. We sat in U
the throne when you are not Francis during his historic visit to Abu format, as is the design of an Arabic
Wcalled? Dhabi. majlis (court). I decided to open with
the blessing on meeting a sovereign,
I shudder to think about the terror which We felt intensely that we could not
must have gripped Esther as she stepped remain silent – י ׁ ִ שי ִ ר ֲ ח ַּ ת ׁש ֵ ר ֲ ח ַ ה ם ִ א. We ם ָ ד ָ ו רׂ ָ ש ָ ב ְְ ל ֹודֹוב ְְּ כ ִ מ ן ַ תָּנ ֶ ׁש, a blessing to G-d for
outside the bounds of court protocol. advanced a unique proposal: to dedicate having imparted of His Honor to human
I can imagine the times throughout a Sefer Torah in memory of the Founder beings. We completed the Torah scroll,
Jewish history when our ancestors took of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh and recited the Prayer for the Welfare
similar risks, following in Esther’s path, Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, and gift it of the United Arab Emirates, its Rulers
only to meet with a devastatingly differ- to his son, His Highness Sheikh Moham- and its Armed Forces.
ent outcome. Protocol in a royal court is med bin Zayed (MBZ), Crown Prince of For my remarks, I had been counseled in
not about being rude or polite, but can Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Com- advance not to speak of gratitude alone,
be a matter of life or death. mander of the UAE Armed Forces. We but of partnership and shared vision.

Having lived most of my life in demo- suggested that the honor of writing the Thus, the Torah represented not only a
cratic countries, I have experienced only last letter with the sofer go to a member gift, but a symbol of mutual trust, kin-
one comparable moment. of the royal family. There have been ship and respect. In fact, the agreement
Sifrei Torah presented to kings, czars we made that day was that this Torah
In February of 2019, I was invited to and presidents, but never to an Arab would come to the Jewish community
serve as the inaugural Chief Rabbi of the ruler. annually for the High Holidays and Sim-
Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE), chat Torah on loan, and then return to
the first new Jewish community to be the authorities. And, on Simchat Torah
established on the Arabian Peninsula in of 2020/5781, we actually danced with
centuries. Families had been privately the Sheikh Zayed Torah.
celebrating Jewish life together for over
a decade before then, but the theme of Esther lived through a time when if
2019, “The Year of Tolerance”, shone a she would have remained silent and
spotlight on diverse religious communi- not approached the throne, the Jewish
ties in the country, including the Jews. people may have been obliterated. Had
It was for this reason that the growing we, the Jewish community in the Emir-
ates, remained silent, no danger would
number of Jewish individuals and fam-
ilies in the UAE decided to formalize a have ensued. And yet the duty not to
constitution, elect officers, and tell their To our amazement, the proposal was remain silent, rather to affirm and cele-
own story. accepted. As we began to prepare for brate the good that others have done to
the ceremony, we became aware of all us, is no less of an obligation. We must
The surreal nature of events in that of the protocols of the Court: what time not let the values of gratitude, trust and
year were not lost on us. We heard to arrive, where to stand, and in which partnership be engulfed by the silence
the announcement of the building of order. However, one overriding protocol of entitlement. We must not decline to
the Abrahamic Family House complex principle was made clear to us: do not say our lines simply because it is not in
in Abu Dhabi, which would include a the script. We must embrace the firsts
state-of-the-art synagogue. We saw the compromise on a single Jewish law or that come with our moment in history.
custom in order to accommodate the
inclusion of a chapter on Judaism in a Rabbi Yehuda Sarna serves as the Execu-
government-commissioned book enti- Court. tive Director of the Bronfman Center at New
tled “Celebrating Tolerance.” Leaders of The Torah ceremony on November York University and as the Chief Rabbi of the
the local Jewish community were invited 25, 2019, was not large or public, but Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE).

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