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Visiting Saudi Arabia openly as a Jew, as we are able to do now, is already a our days (enough for us).
After all, on my previous business trips to Saudi Arabia, I never declared myself Jewish, and awkwardly completed the visa application, which at the time required a declaration of religious affiliation (there didn’t seem to be any categories available, such as Sunni or even Leaf faction) application).
But this time, we were greeted warmly, even in Medina, the city of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, which until two years ago was completely off-limits to non-Muslims. Not only did we visit, we planted a date tree; not just any type of date, but the highly prized ajwa variety grown only in Medina.
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Rick Soffer
Being the first Jew to plant a date tree in Medina in 1400 years was a “moment of pain” and I am deeply grateful, along with every Jew, Christian and Muslim on our trip, who was also invited to plant one tree.
this tree planting It feels like a symbol of the massive changes afoot in Saudi Arabia, especially in its attitude towards people of other faiths.
The changes, led from the top down by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are reflected in the kingdom’s “Vision 2030” blueprint, which prominently defines Islamic values ​​as “moderation and tolerance.”
These changes were evident to our team during my scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE earlier this month. Our meetings with Saudi ambassadors, the heads of various key educational institutions including Building Bridges to Different Peoples and Cultures, as well as artists and local communities suggest that these changes have permeated deeply into the system.
For example, as a recent Impact-se review shows, the hostility to Jews once contained in Saudi Arabian school textbooks has been almost completely ripped out. Since 50% of Saudi Arabia’s population is under the age of 20, it can be hoped that these changes will have an immediate effect.
Rick Sopher grows date trees.
It is not clear how the rulers’ goal that their Islam should be “moderate and tolerant” will take root in the minds of the world’s 30 million Saudi residents and 1.8 billion Muslims. But in a private meeting, we were impressed by the two imams who were trying to get their message across.
Both Saudi Arabia’s Sheikh Mohammed al Issa and Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Abdulla bin Bayyah have been active in promoting this more moderate form of Islam and have been active in getting thousands of other imams to sign charters in support of this approach.
Interestingly, their charters both refer to a document called the “Charter of Medina” drawn up by the Islamic prophet Muhammad around AD 623, which agreed to coexist with the Jewish tribes that lived in Medina at the time, some of them People have their own jujube orchards.
We also had the pleasure of being in Abu Dhabi on the first Sabbath after the official opening of the Abraham Family House, a spectacularly beautiful synagogue, church and mosque. Synagogues, like churches and mosques, are a cube size of 30 cubic meters, which is quite remarkable considering the ancient history of height restrictions for synagogues in Muslim lands.
Even more remarkable is the fact that the elegant synagogue building, like the entire site, was built with generous funding from the UAE government.
Following Shabbat services, we joined a fellow Muslim scholar, Dr. Abdulla Galadari, for a discussion with a private audience on the deep connection between the Qur’an and the Torah. This is actually the first interfaith discussion held on site since the official opening of the Abraham Family House.
Many in the room, including newcomer Rabbi Ben de Toledo, were amazed by the proximity of language and concepts contained in the Torah and Qur’an, which is an important part of my research work.
In short, the comparison of these two scriptures has more similarities than differences.
At the end of our trip, I had a feeling that Jews in particular were not only tolerated in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but are now actually embraced. This is very different from the perception in those countries where I grew up. It does feel like our friends in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are now extending a generous hand of friendship.
I am very grateful for that – and obviously the offer should be warmly accepted.
- Rick Sopher is a businessman and philanthropist
- To view the tree planting ceremony, please click here.
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