Rabbi Yehuda Sarna is Chief Rabbi of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue of the Abrahamic Family House[1] in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He is also Executive Director of the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University (NYU),[2] Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service[3] and University Chaplain at NYU.
Biography
Rabbi Sarna was born in Montreal, Canada. He attended Yeshivat Har Etzion from 1995 to 1997 before earning his B.A. in English Literature and Judaic Studies from Yeshiva College.[4] Rabbi Sarna is a 2003 graduate of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. In 2002, he began working at New York University's Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life,[5] a Hillel affiliate. He teaches and lectures at NYU Abu Dhabi and regularly attends the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace. Rabbi Sarna, along with Imam Khalid Latif, co-founded the 'Of Many' Institute for Multifaith Leadership at NYU.[6] They teach a course together and lead service trips to cultivate cooperation and dialogue among students from different faiths.[7] Sarna has been instrumental in building a strong and diverse Jewish presence at NYU.[8]
In 2017, Rabbi Sarna learned of a small, under the radar Jewish community that met for services every week in people's homes in Dubai, a short drive from Abu Dhabi. He began advising them on religious and communal matters. By 2019, known in the UAE as the Year of Tolerance, the community asked Rabbi Sarna to serve as Chief Rabbi given its increasingly public profile. Rabbi Sarna became Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates. The historic character of the community was not lost on its members: this was the first new Jewish community to be established in the Arab world in over a century.
In 2016, Rabbi Sarna was appointed to the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council, a project of the American Jewish Committee and the Islamic Society of North America, which successfully lobbied for tougher legislation to address the underreporting of hate crimes.
Rabbi Sarna came to the UAE for the first time in 2010 at the invitation of NYU leadership. He was serving as the rabbi at NYU's Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life and was asked to assist in interviewing high school students seeking admission to the first ever class of NYU Abu Dhabi. Returning year after year to NYU Abu Dhabi since 2010 unleashed the opportunity to share his experiences and inspire ways to dismantle stereotypes beyond the student sphere.
In 2007, he founded the Jewish Learning Fellowship, a ten-week course in Jewish thought for college students, which now enrolls thousands of students through local Hillels on hundreds of university campuses.
Rabbi Sarna is a member of the Council of European Rabbis, the Rabbinical Council of America and the International Rabbinic Fellowship. He spearheaded the campaign to build an Eruv in Lower Manhattan and founded the Downtown Va'ad.
He is the editor of The Koren Shabbat Evening Siddur (2011) and the Orthodox Forum Series: Toward a Jewish Perspective on Culture (2013).
Chief Rabbi of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue
In 2023, Rabbi Sarna was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. The Abrahamic Family House is a complex of houses of worship for the three Abrahamic religions: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue is the first purpose-built synagogue in the Arab world with the goal of promoting interfaith coexistence.
Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates
Prior to becoming the Chief Rabbi of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, Rabbi Sarna was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE) in 2019.[9][10]
Rabbi Sarna has received numerous awards for his work. In 2009, he was an honoree at the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus Awards dinner. Additionally in 2009, he was listed as one of the "36-under-36" by The Jewish Week.[11] In 2012, Rabbi Sarna received an award from Temple of Understanding with NYU's Imam Khalid Latif and Chelsea Clinton for their work in, "advancing a new model of integrating interfaith and cross cultural education into campus life." In 2013, he was honored by Yeshivat Har Etzion as "Alumnus of the Year."[12][13][14]
Personal life
Rabbi Sarna is married to psychologist Michelle Waldman Sarna. They have six children.[15]
