First-of-its-kind discussion in UAE to focus on peace, spirituality and the climate crisis.
(Courtesy of YU) On September 21, Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University, will headline a historic panel launching the first year of programming at the Abrahamic Family House (AFH) in Abu Dhabi titled “Rethinking Sustainability and Peace Through a Spiritual Lens.” The discussion, held on the International Day of Peace, will highlight YU’s continued commitment to deepening ties and spreading Jewish values in the global community. The other panelists include Dana Kamali, chief business officer at UAE’s Corporate Social Responsibility Fund, which oversees the country’s sustainability efforts; and Dr. Monica Menendez, associate dean of engineering for graduate affairs at NYU Abu Dhabi. The event will also include remarks by Abdulla Al Shehhi, acting executive director of the Abrahamic Family House.
This is the first-ever event in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where Jews and Muslims will discuss sustainability. Topics expected to be discussed include environmental preservation, the climate crisis and the importance of religion and ethics in addressing these challenges.
“As a representative of our multi-millennia tradition, I’m honored to draw on the time-tested roots of the Jewish faith to address the universal challenges of tomorrow,” said Berman. “Yeshiva University is proud to participate in this historic opportunity and continue our work of bringing the Jewish voice into the global moral conversation.”
Since opening in February 2023, the AFH has served a global audience and provided a platform for Jewish values to be shared. The venue offers a model of tolerance and education, housing a mosque, a church and the Ben Maimon Synagogue.
Berman’s participation will mark the latest in YU’s work to strengthen ties with both the Jewish and Muslim communities on an international stage. In April 2021, he addressed the first-ever Holocaust Commemoration event in an Arab country, at the Crossroads of Civilization Museum (CCM) in Dubai. Additionally, in May 2023, YU partnered with Mohammed Bin Zayed University for Humanities (MBZUH) on the first-of-its kind academic conference in the UAE, “Interacting Philosophies, Shared Friendships,” at which faculty from both universities offered scholarly reflections on Judaism and Islam’s political, philosophical and social interactions to an audience of community members; Emirati, Israeli and American dignitaries; and students.
Joining Berman will be a delegation of students and faculty from the YU Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. The students will be meeting with local leaders, including H.E. Ahmed Almansoori, the founder of the CCM; Amir Hayek, Israeli Ambassador to the UAE; Israeli Consul General Liron Zaslansky; and Marc Sievers, former Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman and Director of the AJC Abu Dhabi. The group will participate in seminars, led by Straus Center faculty, that will examine Jewish and Islamic history and law. They will also be led on a VIP tour of the “Letters of Light” exhibit at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which displays some of the oldest sacred texts of the Abrahamic faiths.
