Yehuda Sarna

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna is Chief Rabbi of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He is also Executive Director of the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University (NYU), Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service 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. 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, 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. They teach a course together and lead service trips to cultivate cooperation and dialogue among students from different faiths. Sarna has been instrumental in building a strong and diverse Jewish presence at NYU.

Today, Rabbi Sarna is the Chief Rabbi of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi.

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.

Film and Media (Featured)
Thirteen Specials, Amen-Amen-Amen, PBS, Dec. 13, 2021.
 * Premiered on PBS in New York in 2021
 * Story of first Torah Scroll ever gifted to an Arab ruler, from Sarna to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed

Chelsea Clinton and Linda Mills, Of Many, Spicy Icy Productions, 2014.
 * Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2014
 * Aired nationally on ABC in 2017 to 8.1 million viewers (according to Nielsen)
 * Story of an “unorthodox” friendship between Rabbi Sarna and Imam Latif

Selected General Public Writing
Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, “Foreword”, Warm Peace: How People-to-People Diplomacy Can Build What Governments Cannot. Edited by Sarah R. Cohen, Warm Peace Institute, Dec. 16, 2021.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, "Here's how to build Jewish life in a 21st-century Muslim nation", USA Today, Aug. 11, 2021.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, "What I’ve learned teaching Jewish texts in the UAE", Jewish News Syndicate, Mar. 23, 2021.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, "We are guests in the UAE; let's be gracious", Jewish News Syndicate, Jan. 18, 2021.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, "Chief Rabbi of UAE: Reflections on a Historic Accord", Jewish Exponent, Sept. 17, 2020.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, "How I Became Chief Rabbi of the UAE and Why That Matters", Times of Israel, Aug. 21, 2020.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, “The Danger in Sears Judaism”, E-Jewish Philanthropy, Oct. 21, 2018.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, "At NYU, Interfaith Solidarity Abounds”, The Forward, Dec. 23, 2016.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, “A Plea For Dialogue, Not More Stunts”, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Apr. 29, 2014

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, “Open Hillel: Right Spirit, Wrong Partners”, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Dec. 24, 2013.

Notable Mentions
Mike Wagenheim, "Rooting out abuse is a rapidly growing Orthodox communal concern, survey finds", Jewish News Syndicate, Mar. 20, 2023.

Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation, "First-in-a-Generation Study Shows Positive Influence of Rabbis on Young American Jews", San Diego Jewish World, Mar. 16, 2023.

Adam Pourahmadi, "Abu Dhabi's stunning new multi-faith complex is a mosque, synagogue and church", CNN, Mar. 1, 2023.

Tamara Zieve, "UAE Jewish community opens the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue", Jewish Insider, Feb. 20, 2023.

Zvika Klein, "Interfaith center, including synagogue, to open in Abu Dhabi on Thursday", Jerusalem Post, Feb 16. 2023.

Lazar Berman, "UAE interfaith compound featuring new synagogue set to open Thursday", Times of Israel, Feb. 16, 2023.

Daniel Ben-David, "New documentary tells story of Torah scroll gifted to UAE", The Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 24, 2022.

Abigail Klein Leichman, "‘Amen, Amen, Amen’", Jewish Standard, Oct. 19, 2022.

Dan Lavie, "A year on, Abraham Accords depict new chapter in region's history", Israel Hayom, Oct. 4, 2021.

Binsal Abdulkader, "'Muslim woman who stood guard Jewish prayer at AUH airport embodies UAE's tolerance:' Chief Rabbi", Emirates News Agency, Sept. 16, 2021.

"Every Family Reunion Needs the Right Venue," Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the UAE, Jan. 29, 2021.

"'Amen-Amen-Amen': New documentary tells the story of the UAE's first Jewish community", The National, Dec. 15, 2020.

Sam Zieve Cohen, "UAE chief rabbi: 10,000 Jews could soon live in gulf nation", Jewish Insider, Sept. 30, 2020.

Aviva Engel, "UAE's Chief Rabbi Yehuda Sarna: The pride of Montreal's Jewish Community", The Suburban, Sept.17, 2020.

David Brooks, "From One Chief Rabbi to Another", Jewish Insider, June 27, 2019.

Ron Kampeas, "NYU Chaplain to Be First Chief Rabbi in the United Arab Emirates", Haaretz, May 15, 2019.

Awards and recognition
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. 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."

Personal life
Rabbi Sarna is married to psychologist Michelle Waldman Sarna. They have six children.