The first anniversary of the Abraham Accords – The Jewish Angle: A special Israel Hayom project
Part I: Building peoplehood where East meets West
It took us no more than a few moments to understand, as Israelis, that the celebratory signing of the Abraham Accords one year ago – which, mediated by the United States, normalized relations between Israel and a number of Arab states – provided a real possibility of peace between the peoples of the region.
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Sometimes it seems that nearly every Israeli knew to explain that this was a significant development, one with potentially wide-ranging strategic significance in a number of security, economic, and environmental areas. Even if one doesn't really dive into the detail, just the choice of the name – the Abraham Accords – after the biblical Abraham, the figure who unites the Abrahamic faiths – hints at a new chapter emerging in the history of the region, which is expected to have a dramatic impact on the atmosphere of the coming years.
The signing of the peace agreement also fell like ripe fruit into the hands of Israelis who were worried about traveling openly in the UAE with Jewish symbols, and also provided a stamp of officialdom for the Jewish residents of the state – for example, synagogue worshipers who until recently were worried to reveal their Jewishness in public, and who had waited for their first opportunity to hold their heads up high. For them, the agreement freed them from a spiritual consciousness reminiscent of the days of the Anusim.
Taking a broad view of everything that touches on the Jewish world, one of the opportunities that has arisen from the accords is the ability to engage with these small communities, which constitute an important part of the mosaic of the Jewish people. This engagement cannot be taken for granted, especially not by the general public. The very exposure of the Israeli public to a small portion of these communities – including a reminder of the historical context and the attempt to develop these communities and open awareness of Jewish identity – constitutes the necessary starting point for the long-awaited future. The signing of the Abraham Accords provides a concrete opportunity to examine the approach towards these communities and to deepen our knowledge of them while strengthening the relationships between them and Israel.
"The basis of the existence of Jewish life in the UAE in our time relies on the concept of "relocation," which is a common practice of Jewish migration in the era of globalization," explains Dr. Noga Kochavi, the head of the program to advance Jewish peoplehood in the education system and a lecturer at the University of Haifa, in a conversation with Israel HaYom. "American Jews, and others who have settled in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi, gradually formulate a lifestyle that is suited to the place. Even though this is a small community, it's worth following it and learning from it about one of the decisive meeting of forces in the Jewish world, the meeting between East and West."
In relation to existing trends of convergence and dispersal in the Jewish world from generation to generation, Dr. Kochavi says: "They are noticeable both under internal and external pressures and in cross-border cooperation, in multicultural openness to the point of self-negation, and also in preserving boundaries of Jewish identity. This game of tension and mutual completion is also very clear in the meeting of East and West in a number of aspects. This isn't only ethnic Eastness and Westness, the traditional or the geographical, but also the political aspects and the meanings that are derived from it."
The rabbis of the UAE – the Senior Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie, and the Chief Rabbi Yehuda Sarna – recently composed a special prayer to mark the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords. The moving prayer was distributed to more than a thousand synagogues around the world, and was formulated in a universal language aimed at all the children of Abraham – "whether they are children of Sara, Hagar, or Ketura," according to Rav Sarna. An example excerpt from the prayer: "spread your tabernacle of peace on the holy places of the readers in your great name in every tongue, and give freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture in all communities of the world."
Dr. Kochavi chooses to linger on the viral film that moved many with the 'prayer for the peace of the kingdom' after the signing of the Abraham Accords – a film that reflects part of the tension that surrounds the need to accept the character of the host society and its laws, even if they aren't always consistent with the tradition of Israel.
"Emirati Jewry is a tiny lens to observe through," she explains. "However, because of the unique conditions one can derive quite a lot from it – and not only from the really important strategic covenant itself, but also since it can help in thinking about events that do not benefit the Jewish world and Israeli society.
"Among these influences, one can note the new cover of old phenomena such as post-modernism, which was shaped by Western culture and is not natural to Eastern culture; or, for example, the demographic, political and cultural contribution that began in Europe and North America, with the absorption of waves of immigration, including extensive Middle Eastern immigration."
Against the background of this development, it's appropriate to ask what might happen in the future. "It's interesting to examine, for example, which linguistic and cultural codes the Western business community in the UAE have acquired, is there a lesson here from the Israeli point of view, and can this influence help us in the areas of society, foreign policy, and security? These questions need to be examined in the Middle East, in the global arena, and in the upheavals, the Jewish world is going through," concludes Dr. Kochavi.
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