THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Take Singapore and Shanghai, sprinkle in Hong Kong and Manhattan, add a touch of Taipei. Then, put that mixture on a course of steroids. Afterwards, pour it into the desert by the beach, and lo and behold, you'll get Dubai. 

Dubai is clean, safe, and speaks Arabic and English. It's hard to say that Dubai is beautiful because, at least in the 45ºC (113ºF) heat and humidity of August, it's sandy and dusty. Nevertheless, in the sand they created a lot of green here. Not synthetic green, natural green! What can be said about Dubai is that it is remarkable, exciting, extraordinary, astounding and definitely very, very impressive. It oozes power. The architecture here gives expression to unbelievable originality. The buildings are beautiful and magnificent. Dubai is super-modern. The highways are wide-ranging. On Dubai's main drag, Sheikh Zayed Road, there are 7 lanes in each direction. The interchanges are large and complicated and if you miss a turn, you have to travel about 20 minutes further until the next interchange.

There is nothing that cannot be found in Dubai. Even snow! Even in 45 degrees heat. The beaches are clean with bright white sand. Attractions from here to forever. Want to play golf in the middle of the night? No problems. You can. Want to race a go-kart on a professional track? Can do too. Hover in the air on the longest zipline in the world or the fastest in the world or the highest in the world? You can do all three. And of course - shopping. There is no chain of stores of any kind that cannot be found here. There are huge malls that cannot be completed in a full day of wandering. The Dubai Mall is the largest in the world. 1,240,000 square meters. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. Rising to 160 floors. 828 meters high. And since Saudi Arabia is planning a 1,000-meter building, Dubai already has a project in the works that will surpass that as well. There is no end in sight. Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the Prime Minister of the UAE, intends that Dubai will be the first and best in everything possible. And he really, really means it. In his book "My Vision" he asks, "Does anyone know who the second person was to climb Everest?" Dubai will not be second in anything. That’s the vision.

Dubai lives on tourism. Some 16 million tourists came in 2019. Were it not for COVID-19, Dubai would have had 20 million visitors in 2020 and even more in 2021. Since EXPO 2020-2021 has been postponed for a year due to COVID-19, and 2021 will also be the jubilee year of the UAE’s independence, it is not hard to guess that they will achieve – and exceed – that goal.

In 2019, there were 544 hotels in Dubai with 100,744 rooms and with an occupancy rate of 86%. That is, means that in 2019 there was an occupancy of 31,623,542 hotel rooms. Stop and think about it. And this is just Dubai. Excluding Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman and the rest of the Emirates. And there is still time to add more hotels before EXPO.

Hotels here are available at all levels, from 2 stars in not the best areas to the deluxe palaces on the shores of the Persian Gulf, or as it is called here, the Arabian Gulf. In addition to hotels of every possible chain in the world, there are also local chains, some owned by the ruler’s family, or owned by Emirates Airlines, which is also owned by the ruler’s family. There is a hotel owned by Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri Jr., and one owned by the Yemeni prime minister and other properties owned by various other international and political dignitaries.

Future shock is alive and well and living in Dubai. There are endless attractions waiting for foreign visitors, and sometimes they are even all in the same building. For example, the Dubai Mall has an aquarium, karting races, a virtual reality experience, an opera house, cinemas, a horror show house, dinosaurs, a night fountain show, and an entire children-size city, and of course the entrance to the top Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The Emirates Mall offer a mountain of snow for skiing, penguins to entertain the children, snow slides and ski lifts and also the coldest zipline in the world. There is a trampoline park, a theater, and climbing walls, a space experience park, and on the outside, also a water park - one of many in Dubai.

Oh, and by the way, you can also go shopping in the malls. And buy kosher ice cream 😊.

Jews in the UAE

I received many requests from readers to write about Jewish life, such as there is, in the UAE. So here goes. There is a Jewish community in the UAE. They are all foreign nationals. I am told they number about 2000 people countrywide. There is an official chief rabbi for the United Arab Emirates, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, a professor at New York University. He came to the Emirates as a visiting professor on the New York University campus in Abu Dhabi. He reached out to the small Jewish community in Dubai, and later on was appointed chief rabbi of the UAE. He is also the government’s adviser regarding the building of the Abrahamic Families Center, a vision of the UAE president that will include a mosque, a church and a synagogue. He comes to the UAE for community needs several times a year, but is not a permanent resident of the Emirates.

The rabbi who is a resident of the UAE is Rabbi Levi Duchman. A young, single, Chabad Hasid, who came to the UAE some years ago and established a synagogue in his villa in Dubai near the city center, where regular minyanim are held on weekdays, Shabbat and holidays.

In another area of ​​Dubai, until some weeks ago, there was another synagogue, an older one, in a private villa – known as “The Villa” synagogue – serving the Jews who lived in that area of ​​Dubai. A distance of about 8 kilometers separates the two synagogues. However, this synagogue was recently closed by the authorities. The members have applied to reopen it in a location close to ​​the Dubai Marina. Let's hope for the best.

There is also kosher catering in Dubai - Elli's Kosher Kitchen. Elli Kriel, her husband Ross and their three children are a religious Jewish South African family who relocated to Dubai following her husband's work in the international energy industry. This is what Len Judes, President of the Israel-Lithuania Chamber of Commerce, wrote about her in a Facebook post:

"In November 2018 Elli completed her doctorate in sociology ("Observing Inclusion and Exclusion in Society: How Identity and Belonging Underlies the Experience of Inclusion and Exclusion of Minority Communities"), and considered continuing her life in the academic world.

But then her husband told her that a delegation of rabbis was about to attend a conference in Abu Dhabi - and that they needed kosher food. The conference organizers turned to Ross and asked for his help in finding catering that would be to the satisfaction of the rabbis. Of course, there was no such thing in the UAE at the time.

An idea occurred to Ross that Elli would cook for the rabbis, and so it was. "I flowed with it spontaneously. I opened cookbooks and learned from them. I discovered that Spanish Jewish cuisine was very similar to Greek cuisine, which I grew up on. Then more orders began to arrive, and I suddenly realized it was a potential business, not a one-time project," she recalls.

The second major event for which she prepared kosher food was the Tolerance Conference, held in Dubai and attended by the Pope - and a number of rabbis from different streams of Judaism. The rumor spread by word of mouth. Elli began receiving many requests from Jewish families on missions in Dubai, as well as from kosher Jewish tourists, who visit the Emirates on both organized trips and honeymoons.

What characterizes your kitchen?

"Western tourists want to experience what the local cuisine has to offer, so I make kosher versions of the Emirati cuisine. Foreigners who have moved here long for the flavors of Eastern European Jewish cuisine - so I put that on the menu. Many Jewish tourists who come here are of Moroccan and French descent. The dishes are in the Greek style, which I prepare according to what I tasted in the house where I grew up. "

What is the next step?

"I am about to publish a book of kosher recipes sponsored by the Government Office for Tolerance of the United Arab Emirates. I am about to come out with a new brand of kosher baklava made in Dubai, and I have also started selling challah covers, made from a traditional Emirati fabric called Sado."

What are your expectations of the peace agreement?

"I have hope that the peace agreement will pave the way for positive developments in the region. The peace agreement marks the opening of a new era, which I hope will find solutions for Palestinians and Israelis alike. I can offer Israelis visiting Abu Dhabi a home away from home. Israeli tourists are important. Now, they can travel the Emirates and stock up on my food, thus saving themselves the logistics of carrying kosher food all the way."

So, there are solutions in the UAE for kosher food everywhere. By the way, supermarkets also have products with well-known kosher symbols from the US, England and South Africa, as well as products that appear on rabbinical kosher lists in France, Belgium, Australia, and other countries. And a trip to the Emirates does not have to – and shouldn’t – be limited to Dubai only, although Dubai is definitely the crown jewel.

And on this subject I have two more suggestions, even if you are only visiting Dubai. Head over to Sharjah, the neighboring emirate to Dubai, just a 20-minute drive away. Sharjah is much more "religious" than Dubai. There is no sale of alcohol at all in Sharjah. The dress is more traditional - both men and women. There is more presence of mosques. But in Sharjah, as opposed to Dubai, the local culture is more prevalent. It is modern, but preserves its ancient culture. The small old town of Sharjah still stands complete, well preserved and in good condition. It’s beautiful. It’s markets look like markets and not like malls that simulate markets. It’s clean, tidy, welcoming. When I got to Sharjah I felt relaxed. The pressure of Dubai’s GO GO GO had faded. Everything is comfortable. I really don’t like the word "authenticity" but it’s the word that best describes Sharjah.

By the way, like Dubai which has its airlines, Emirates and FlyDubai; and Abu Dhabi which has its airline, Etihad; Sharjah also has an airline, Fly Arabia. Just put the information in your pocket for when flights to the UAE begin. The drive from Sharjah Airport to Dubai center is about 25 minutes. Not much more than the drive from Dubai Airport to the city center.

And if we're dealing with airports, then the international airport in Dubai DXB is H-U-G-E! I remember seeing a National Geographic program about it when the airport was still under construction. Basically, it has to be huge because in Dubai everything is bigger and more. But, still, to be fair, the Emirates company has the largest wide-body fleet of aircraft in the world (of course) so they also have a practical need for a huge airport.

Finally, it is impossible to leave here without visiting the desert. The Emiratis are inherently desert people, for hundreds upon hundreds of years. And visiting here without going out into the desert would be a serious miss. The desert here is magical. The dunes move all the time - even while you’re looking at them. The winds blow and the sands fly and land somewhere else and all of a sudden the dune has moved location. And the sand is very soft. I went out into the desert in my host's jeep and at a rift on one of the dunes, the jeep began to sink. Of course, the driver hit the gas pedal in an attempt to quickly get us moving, but that just caused us to sink even more until the undercarriage of the jeep rested on the sand. The driver called a tow service, but he missed the exit from the road to the desert and had to drive another 20 minutes until he could make a U-turn. On his second attempt to reach us he missed again and by the time he finally reached us two Bedouin passing by in jeeps saw us, and all together they hauled us out us successfully and quickly. We continued the trip to see some camel farms including those of the ruler, until we reached a beautiful desert camp where there are activities galore and wonderfully entertaining shows, and where you can also have a delicious kosher barbecue dinner.

Seven days were enough for me to fall in love with this destination just as I fell in love with Japan. Anyone who knows me, knows ,that for me, that says everything.

A trip to the Emirates does not have to – and shouldn’t – be limited to Dubai only, although Dubai is definitely the crown jewel.

And on this subject I have two more suggestions, even if you are only visiting Dubai. Head over to Sharjah, the neighboring emirate to Dubai, just a 20-minute drive away. Sharjah is much more "religious" than Dubai. There is no sale of alcohol at all in Sharjah. The dress is more traditional - both men and women. There is more presence of mosques. But in Sharjah, as opposed to Dubai, the local culture is more prevalent. It is modern, but preserves its ancient culture. The small old town of Sharjah still stands complete, well preserved and in good condition. It’s beautiful. It’s markets look like markets and not like malls that simulate markets. It’s clean, tidy, welcoming. When I got to Sharjah I felt relaxed. The pressure of Dubai’s GO GO GO had faded. Everything is comfortable. I really don’t like the word "authenticity" but it’s the word that best describes Sharjah.

By the way, like Dubai which has its airlines, Emirates and FlyDubai; and Abu Dhabi which has its airline, Etihad; Sharjah also has an airline, Fly Arabia. Just put the information in your pocket for when flights to the UAE begin. The drive from Sharjah Airport to Dubai center is about 25 minutes. Not much more than the drive from Dubai Airport to the city center.

And if we're dealing with airports, then the international airport in Dubai DXB is H-U-G-E! I remember seeing a National Geographic program about it when the airport was still under construction. Basically, it has to be huge because in Dubai everything is bigger and more. But, still, to be fair, the Emirates company has the largest wide-body fleet of aircraft in the world (of course) so they also have a practical need for a huge airport.

Finally, it is impossible to leave here without visiting the desert. The Emiratis are inherently desert people, for hundreds upon hundreds of years. And visiting here without going out into the desert would be a serious miss. The desert here is magical. The dunes move all the time - even while you’re looking at them. The winds blow and the sands fly and land somewhere else and all of a sudden the dune has moved location. And the sand is very soft. I went out into the desert in my host's jeep and at a rift on one of the dunes, the jeep began to sink. Of course, the driver hit the gas pedal in an attempt to quickly get us moving, but that just caused us to sink even more until the undercarriage of the jeep rested on the sand. The driver called a tow service, but he missed the exit from the road to the desert and had to drive another 20 minutes until he could make a U-turn. On his second attempt to reach us he missed again and by the time he finally reached us two Bedouin passing by in jeeps saw us, and all together they hauled us out us successfully and quickly. We continued the trip to see some camel farms including those of the ruler, until we reached a beautiful desert camp where there are activities galore and wonderfully entertaining shows, and where you can also have a delicious kosher barbecue dinner.

Seven days were enough for me to fall in love with this destination just as I fell in love with Japan. Anyone who knows me, knows ,that for me, that says everything.

Clothes, Etiquette & Tradition

The United Arab Emirates is a religious Muslim country. As such, there are many aspects which are reflected in Muslim tradition that I came across almost everywhere. The first that comes to mind is the call to prayer. My home in Efrat has many Arab villages close by and its not unusual for us to hear the Muslim call to prayer during the quiet hors of the morning or the evening or late at night. In Dub ai, the first time I heard the call to prayer was while I was walking through the humungous Dubai Mall. There among all the glitz, the lights and the modernity, the background music that we are all used to hearing in nay shopping mall anywhere, suddenly stopped, and over the loudspeakers throughout the mall came the call to prayer. The Dubai Mall has more than one prayer room – after all, it is the largest shopping mall in the world – but I didn’t notice anyone suddenly ceasing from their purchases in order to rush to prayer. 

That’s the thing. Among the obvious Muslim religious requirements that are visible everywhere, there seems to be a very paid back attitude when in public , but up to a point. I was surprised to find that liquor is available in Dubai, and when I remarked about that to a local resident, I was informed, “Only in places that have licenses to sell liquor.” I asked: “So, what kind of places get a license to sell liquor?” “Oh,” came the reply, “hotels, nightclubs, bars, restaurants.” In other words, it’s available if you want it. It’s not for sale in liquor stores because there are none. And not in the supermarkets. But it can be had. For me that was interesting because in the neighboring Emirate, Sharjah, liquor is strictly forbidden, even in “hotels, nightclubs, bars, restaurants.”

What else is forbidden by way of food and drink? Well, Islam forbids eating pork, for example, so I figured no pork anywhere in the UAE. Well, no. Seeing as pork is not forbidden to many of the non-Muslims who are resident in the UAE, pork is indeed available in Dubai. But only to Non-Muslims. Supermarkets in Dubai have meat counters, butchery counters, and a Pork Shop for Non-Muslims. Once again, in Sharjah, the neighboring Emirate, the sale of pork is forbidden. It’s interesting to see the difference between ultra-modern, outgoing, worldly Dubai, and conservative, traditional and religious Sharjah. Two cities/Emirates so close and yet so different.

Emiratis dress pretty much in their traditional clothes most of the time when they’re out and about. The men in their amazingly white Kanduras (how do they keep them SO white?), Gotras and Agals, and the women in their black Shallas and Abayas. In the same way that I wouldn’t dare ask a Scot what’s underneath his kilt, I wouldn’t dare to ask an Emirati what’s under his white Kandura. I do see sandals on the men’s feet. However, many women wore very light, loosely fitting black Abayas, and it was quite obvious that they were very, very well dressed underneath. To the nines, I tell you. I tried putting on the Gotra and Agal, the keffiyeh-looking headdress that Emirati men wear with such aplomb and ease. It took me a long time to get it right, but somehow, even then, it didn’t look right on me. However, while I wore it, I felt a little like Lawrence of Arabia. There’s a regal feeling about it. I can’t explain it, but that’s how it felt. But there are a few sartorial notes to be kept in mind when visiting the UAE. Unless tourists are at a desert safari or another location where they may be invited to try the country’s national clothing, it’s actually seen as disrespectful for Western men to wear the Emirati national dress out and about. Women too, should be mindful of their clothing. Although some Emirates are more relaxed than others when it comes to dress codes, when visiting an Emirati home women should dress in a manner that can’t be interpreted as provocative.

And if the subject of women has already come up, there are some small things that are acceptable in Western culture but are very offensive when expressed toward Emirati women. Taking pictures of Emirati women is a complete no-no. It’s also considered extremely rude to stare at a women in her national dress. Now, while foreigners might do so simply out of curiosity, it really shouldn’t be done at all. And physical contact is disrespectful and flirting with an Emirati woman is forbidden.