An Orthodox Jewish wedding was hosted by the United Arab Emirates for the first time in history Monday.
The wedding included about 150 guests from Israel and various countries and was hosted at the Park Hyatt Dubai Hotel.
In a video of the event on social media, the bride and groom are seen celebrating under their chuppah, which is a traditional wedding canopy, with music playing in the background and guests dancing and cheering following the breaking of the glass.
The celebration sparked the curiosity of tourists in the area, some of whom joined the 10-hour festivities while wearing traditional Arab apparel, according to the event organizer.
Jewish law places heavy importance on not changing a wedding date once it is scheduled, and with a strict 20-person limit on public events in Israel due to COVID-19, larger Orthodox Jewish families are beginning to look to Gulf states as the solution.
Israeli health officials have deemed the UAE a “green” country, which means Israeli tourists are not required to quarantine when they return.
Prior to the signing of the Abraham Accords in September, hosting the Orthodox Jewish wedding in the UAE would not have been a viable option.
However, the normalization deal led to the first Israeli tourists arriving in the UAE in September, exhibiting the warming relations between the two countries and paving the way for new possibilities in the Middle East.
