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December 17th, 2020 
Awake Goy 
Alec Sellem moved to the United Arab Emirates in February. “We were tired of Europe and didn’t feel safe,” he said. In the UAE, he found a nation with visionary leadership and a place of safety, surrounded by welcoming people.This safety has now been underpinned by the Abraham Accords, increasing relations with Israel and a higher profile for the Jewish community in Dubai. Sellem says that he has been impressed by government messages that show Jews as part of one of the many diverse groups in the country. Hotels will now have kosher options and that symbolism is important. “The knowledge of Jewish life and culture is limited because there isn’t Jewish history here,” he says. “We wanted to have a center and educational program.” He got in touch with other leaders who are working on UAE-Israel relations, such as Israel’s Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum. He said he wanted to open a nursery school and Jewish identity center by January 2021. The plan is to open a school that will serve children ages 18 months to four years. “Core values and principles are to be taught, we want to base it on a model in the US, a Jewish secular pre-school,” he said. It will have high academic standards and cater to different languages, including French and English, as well as Arabic and Russian. “So they [the parents] can choose the extra language and be taught by native speakers. This is what we did, and it will be the first Jewish nursery school in the UAE and Gulf.” He said he is working with Rabbi Levi Duchman and the school will be called “Mini Miracles.” It will be open to children of all faiths and cultures. “We want to bring children together in a happy, tolerant, open-minded place.” There will also be a center for Jewish identity called the Abraham Miracles Center. It will have a structure for teenagers and also adults. He hopes to work with Israeli non-profits that are pioneering things like agricultural technology. “Also for the adults and older people we will try to have high profile people come and give a speech about the Gulf relationship with Israel.” It will also look at the diversity of Jewish people today throughout the world. “Here we are starting and that goes in two different ways, so first is education to shape a strong identity,” he says, to create an understanding of Jews and for Jews.There will be a kosher kitchen and the center will grow organically. He says that the Jewish community here was discrete in the past, but now he puts a menorah outside for Hanukkah. “Since I arrived here I always felt comfortable and the community needs to adapt because there is a massive rush of tourists coming. Rabbi Duchman says that he had Friday night shabbat at hotels and every spot is taken and there is almost a waiting list to attend, so the challenge is to balance, what we need straight away and what we need for the future and to make sure the community and foreigners are welcome here and taken care of,” said Sellem.
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