Israeli Kosher food in demand in UAE as two countries move closer

Dec 11, 2020
New Delhi: The Israeli Kosher food is getting a welcome response in Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE, after two countries moved closer.

Following the normalisation of ties between Israel and the UAE ties recently, the first direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi took place on August 31. This has also led to many other firsts being observed in the seven emirates comprising the UAE.

As per a government circular released in September, all hotels in the emirate have been instructed to seek certification for handling Kosher meals and to designate an area in all kitchens for Kosher food preparation. Hotels in Abu Dhabi have been advised to offer Kosher food options to their customers by the Department of Culture and Tourism.

Hotels have been instructed that Kosher food options should be included on room service menus and at all food and beverage establishments in hotels. These options must be labelled with a recognisable symbol that denotes ‘Kosher’ as per acquired certification, the circular stipulated.

Dubai, which has over the years emerged as a major tourist centre in the Gulf, is gearing up to meet the expected influx of Israeli tourists to the city. With increased commercial flights between the countries the government is looking to accommodate increasing numbers of visitors who abide by Jewish dietary regulations.

Al Habtoor Group was the first hospitality group in the UAE to introduce Kosher meals to its guests in partnership with Elli’s Kosher Kitchen. The option is now available on menus in Hilton Dubai, V Hotel, Habtoor Palace Dubai, LXR Hotel and Resorts, Habtoor Grand Resort, Autograph Collection LLC, Metropolitan Hotel, and Habtoor Polo Resort.

Till last year visitors to the Emirate Mall in Dubai could enjoy a limited Kosher menu at the food plaza, but now the small establishment has increased its operation and is finding many takers for its food.

Jews in the UAE
There is historical proof that the area that today forms the seven emirates of the UAE was once home to a Jewish community. In the 12th Century a Jewish sage living in Spain, Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, undertook a massive decade-long trip throughout the Middle East, visiting Jewish communities in the Land of Israel and elsewhere. He visited Ras Al Khaimah, which is today one of the seven emirates in the UAE, and which has the longest history of habitation in the country.

There, Jews living in a town called Kis welcomed him. Though no trace of the town nor the Jews who once lived there remain today, Rabbi Tudela’s account is a valuable record of Jewish life in the Arabian Peninsula.

For years, Israelis were formally barred from visiting the UAE, and even non-Israeli Jews reported feeling uncomfortable visiting the emirates. However, as the UAE developed its infrastructure and industry, they quietly turned to some Jewish scientists for assistance. Historian Judith Friedman Rosen in an interview to the Times of Israel stated that her father, Gerald Friedman, was a German Jewish Holocaust survivor who moved to Israel and became a leading petroleum sedimentologist. Despite the UAE’s formal ban on admitting Israelis, Friedman was allowed to work and conduct research in the emirates. He wasn’t the only one; Rosen observed that the UAE has quietly welcomed Israeli and Jewish experts in agriculture, agronomy and water for decades.

Growing Jewish Community
For years, Epstein and other Jews living in Dubai gathered in one another’s homes to hold Jewish services. In 2015, they rented a house to function as an unofficial Synagogue. The house provided a roomy space for services, a Kosher kitchen, and a few rooms so Jews who lived too far away to walk could stay over Shabbat and holidays. Though the Jews didn’t mark their building in any way and kept relatively quiet about this unofficial Synagogue functioning in the Muslim UAE, in recent years they’ve felt confident enough to be more open in their observance.

According to reports, in 2019, the UAE got its first ever Chief Rabbi. The country granted that title to Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, the University Chaplain and Executive Director at the Bronfman Centre for Jewish Student Life at New York University in Dubai.

As the leader of Jewish life at NYU, Rabbi Sarna was first invited to visit the UAE in 2010 when his university opened a branch there. Rabbi Sarna’s duties as UAE Chief Rabbi include travelling several times each year to the UAE and helping the Jewish community there thrive. It’s a voluntary position and Rabbi Sarna sees great opportunities there. “What we see is the first emergence of the first new Jewish community emerging in the Arab world for centuries,” he observed.

Kosher and Halal Food
“Kosher” is used to describe food that complies with the strict dietary standards of traditional Jewish law. The English word “Kosher” is derived from the Hebrew root “kashér,” which means to be pure, proper, or suitable for consumption. These food laws determine which foods may be consumed and how they must be produced, processed, and prepared. For many Jews, Kosher is about more than just health or food safety. It is about reverence and adherence to religious tradition. Some of the main Kosher dietary guidelines ban certain food pairings — particularly that of meat and dairy.

Also, according to Kosher tradition, any food categorised as meat may never be served or eaten at the same meal as a dairy product. Furthermore, all utensils and equipment used to process and clean meat and dairy must be kept separate — even down to the sinks in which they’re washed.

Since, the Kashrut laws are most strict than the Islamic laws of slaughter and consumption of meat, many Muslims when unable to find Halal meat in the western countries rely on Kosher meat, if available, and according to some authorities this is permissible too.

The first Kosher catering business in the Arabian Peninsula, Elli’s Kosher Kitchen, was set up in May 2020 in Dubai. Elli Kriel, originally from South Africa, moved to Dubai in 2013 when her husband took a job there. She’s cooked Kosher food for visiting Jewish travellers to the city for many years.

Kriel’s customers aren’t only Jews. She notes that Kosher food is acceptable to eat by religious Muslims, and she’s found a welcoming embrace from the UAE’s Muslim consumers, as well as her fellow Jews. She recently offered a Ramadan menu to Muslim customers, and has been selling food to a diverse range of expats living in the UAE. She’s also working on a new cookbook, reimagining traditional Emirati dishes for Kosher cooks.

–INDIA NEWS STREAM