From left to right, the three houses of worship, the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, the Imam al-Tayeb Mosque and the St. Francis of Assisi Church, at the Abrahamic Family House, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
A landmark interfaith compound in the United Arab Emirates housing a new synagogue is set to open Thursday afternoon in a ceremony kicking off a series of events over the weekend.
The Abrahamic Family House, located on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, also contains a mosque and church. It was initially slated to open in 2022.
The opening ceremony will be followed by a conference on Friday morning on relations between the faiths. The local Jewish community will hold Shabbat prayers in the synagogue, led by Chief Rabbi Yehuda Sarna.
On Sunday, a Torah scroll donated by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be brought to the synagogue in a dedication ceremony.
The Abrahamic Family House project was announced after Pope Francis’s visit to the UAE in 2019, the first by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula. During the trip, the pope signed a joint declaration with the grand imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, that called for religious tolerance and dialogue.
An interfaith council to oversee projects advancing tolerance was formed as a result of the declaration, and named the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity. The Abrahamic Family House was its first initiative. (Lazar Berman, Times of Israel, 2/16/2023)
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