A Chareidi couple was chosen to be the first emissaries to the Jewish community of Dubai by the World Zionist Organization (WZO). The appointment follows the historic normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and the visit of the Israeli-US delegation to Abu Dhabi.
The WZO made the appointment at the request of the heads of the Jewish community in the UAE and the Orthodox Union (OU).
The couple, Yaakov and Zalti Eisenstein, will establish and manage a Jewish kindergarten, conduct classes and lectures on Jewish traditions, establish a Hebrew language study program, and organize community events.
The Eisensteins will be part of the “Ben Ami” emissary project run by the Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora at the WZO. They are expected to begin their service before the Yomim Tovim in Tishrei.
The possibility of sending emissaries to the Jewish community of Dubai was raised during the visit of the Israeli delegation in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
“This is an important milestone in the history of the Zionist movement in all the years of its existence,” WZO chairman Avraham Duvdevani said: “We will continue to work in every way to strengthen the connection between the State of Israel and the Jewish communities in the Diaspora and to strengthen the Jewish identity of our people around the world, in all corners of the earth and in the smallest communities.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
Mazel Tov! Wonderful news for Klal Yisroel — and they’re even getting there BEFORE the Lubavitchers.
I’m sure Chabad will be there shortly…
This is untrue as Lubavitch has a shul there already for a while and there is a Shliach there named Rabbi Levi Duchman and he already lives in the UAE there has been a video of his shul going around for months already
This is misleading or simply false, as Rabbi Levi Duchman has led the community for 5 years
Her name is Zlati, not Zalti.
To Balashon:
Dubai already has 2 Lubavitcher shluchim there, not one.
One of them was working undercover for many years, there were articles written, with blurred images in various publications of his work, and the other one is the one currently running the Shul there.
Uh no. There have been Lubavitch Shluchim in Dubai since even before this occurred.
Who says they’re NOT Lubavitch?
She’s my cousin and this is crazy news!!! I wish them much hatzlacha! Just wanted to make a correction though, her name is Zlaty, not Zalti :). That’s what happens when you use Google translate.
Sorry, Chabad has been there for some time already, they made the minyan the next day and have been working with the community for some time alredy. Google Rabbi Duchman UAE
Not sure why this is headline news, I seem to remember Chabad sending shluchim to the UAE quite alone time ago, and a Chanda shliach fro the UAE met the delegates from the 1st flight to arrive.
Don’t worry, Chabad is already there!