Page 17 - HaMizrachi Purim Australia 5781

GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna

Approaching

the Throne

hat is it really like to of the local Jewish community were intimate and modest. We sat in U
approach the throne when invited to participate as such in greeting format, as is the design of an Arabic
Wyou are not called? Pope Francis during his historic visit to majlis (court). I decided to open with

I shudder to think about the terror Abu Dhabi. the blessing on meeting a sovereign,
which must have gripped Esther as she We felt intensely that we could not ם ָ ד ָ ו רׂ ָ ש ָ ב ְְ ל ֹודֹוב ְְּ כ ִ מ ן ַ תָּנ ֶ ׁש, a blessing to G-d
stepped outside the bounds of court remain silent – י ׁ ִ שי ִ ר ֲ ח ַּ ת ׁש ֵ ר ֲ ח ַ ה ם ִ א. We for having imparted of His Honor to
protocol. I can imagine the times advanced a unique proposal: to ded- human beings. We completed the Torah
throughout Jewish history when our icate a Sefer Torah in memory of the scroll, and recited the Prayer for the
ancestors took similar risks, following Founder of the United Arab Emirates, Welfare of the United Arab Emirates,
in Esther’s path, only to meet with a Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, its Rulers and its Armed Forces.
devastatingly different outcome. Pro- and gift it to his son, His Highness For my remarks, I had been counseled
tocol in a royal court is not about being Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), in advance not to speak of gratitude
rude or polite, but can be a matter of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy alone, but of partnership and shared
life or death. Supreme Commander of the UAE vision. Thus, the Torah represented not
Armed Forces. We suggested that the only a gift, but a symbol of mutual trust,
Having lived most of my life in dem-
ocratic countries, I have experienced honor of writing the last letter with the kinship and respect. In fact, the agree-
only one comparable moment. sofer go to a member of the royal family. ment we made that day was that this
There have been Sifrei Torah presented Torah would come to the Jewish com-
In February of 2019, I was invited to to kings, czars and presidents, but never munity annually for the High Holidays
serve as the inaugural Chief Rabbi of the to an Arab ruler. and Simchat Torah on loan, and then
Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE), return to the authorities. And, on Sim-
the first new Jewish community to be chat Torah of 2020/5781, we actually
established on the Arabian Peninsula in danced with the Sheikh Zayed Torah.
centuries. Families had been privately
celebrating Jewish life together for over Esther lived through a time when if
a decade before then, but the theme of she would have remained silent and
2019, “The Year of Tolerance”, shone a not approached the throne, the Jewish
spotlight on diverse religious commu- people may have been obliterated. Had
nities in the country, including the Jews. we, the Jewish community in the Emir-
It was for this reason that the growing ates, remained silent, no danger would
number of Jewish individuals and fam- have ensued. And yet the duty not to
ilies in the UAE decided to formalize a To our amazement, the proposal was remain silent, rather to affirm and cele-
constitution, elect officers, and tell their accepted. As we began to prepare for brate the good that others have done to
own story. the ceremony, we became aware of all us, is no less of an obligation. We must
not let the values of gratitude, trust and
The surreal nature of events in that of the protocols of the Court: what time partnership be engulfed by the silence
year were not lost on us. We heard to arrive, where to stand, and in which of entitlement. We must not decline to
the announcement of the building of order. However, one overriding proto- say our lines simply because it is not in
the Abrahamic Family House complex col principle was made clear to us: do the script. We must embrace the firsts
in Abu Dhabi, which would include a not compromise on a single Jewish law that come with our moment in history.
state-of-the-art synagogue. We saw the or custom in order to accommodate Rabbi Yehuda Sarna serves as the Execu-
inclusion of a chapter on Judaism in a the Court. tive Director of the Bronfman Center at New
government-commissioned book enti- The Torah ceremony on November York University and as the Chief Rabbi of the
tled “Celebrating Tolerance.” Leaders 25, 2019, was not large or public, but Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE).

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