Only a seven-minute drive from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, separates the many Jewish tourists who visit Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and the first and only kosher Jewish supermarket in the Gulf countries, Ramon, launched by the local Jewish community.
The kosher supermarket, initiated by the rabbi to the United Arab Emirates and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Levy Duchman and community members Sonia and Alec Salem, was opened with the encouragement of the authorities, in order to meet the growing demand for kosher food products and products produced in the country. This, in light of the significant growth of Jewish and Israeli tourists coming from around the world.
“Our wonderful community, which is growing day by day, continues to benefit from great and special support from the Emirates government and local authorities, for over a decade,” noted Rabbi Duchman, who has been working in the Emirates for nearly ten years, and even established the government’s official kashrut system. “In order to allow the members of the growing community and the many Jewish visitors here to maintain a Jewish and traditional lifestyle, we were privileged to establish Jewish institutions and to freely and publicly celebrate Shabbats, holidays and joys – and also to enjoy kosher and quality food every day and everywhere throughout the emirates.”
The Jewish supermarket ‘Rimon’ offers a wide variety of kosher food products imported from Israel, Europe and the USA, including fancy chicken and meat products, of premium quality and strictly kosher, as well as the products loved by Israelis and Jews around the world.
In addition, the store will hold a Jewish food market of all denominations every weekend, for the benefit of the many Jewish residents and visitors to the Emirates, who are looking for hot and kosher homemade food.
The Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates, which began to form about a decade ago, is growing into thousands of families.
“The Rabbi of Lubavitcher placed kosher as one of the most essential tasks for missionaries around the world and, God willing, today we get to significantly develop this task that will allow many Jews to eat kosher,” said Rabbi Duchman who celebrated the official opening of Beit Keslo, the Chabad holiday of redemption.