Born | Beirut, Lebanon, 1960; family left in 1971 |
Today | Senior Rabbi Emeritus of the UAE and the Gulf states; Co-President, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries |
Expertise | Sephardic Judaism, history, philosophy, and law; Jewish life in the Arab world |
Languages | English, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, and French |
Speaks to | Congregations, universities, interfaith audiences, and community groups |
Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie comes from a rabbinical family whose roots reach back to fifteenth century Spain and Provence, and whose members later lived in Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon. He was born in Beirut in 1960 to parents from Syria. In 1971, after his father and two other rabbis were falsely labeled in print as foreign agents, the family left Lebanon as refugees and settled in Mexico City, where he grew up.
He came to the United States to study at Yeshiva University, where he earned degrees in health sciences and Bible studies, a master's degree in Jewish philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School, and rabbinic ordination in 1986. He received his M.D. from SUNY Downstate in 1990 and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Maimonides Medical Center. Like Maimonides himself, he has practiced as both a rabbi and a physician.
In New York he was founding rabbi of the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, founded the Sephardic Academy of Manhattan, and directed the Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University, where he taught Sephardic Judaism, history, philosophy, and comparative law. In 2020 he moved to Dubai as senior rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates and later served as rabbi of the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities. He now holds the title of senior rabbi emeritus of the UAE and the Gulf states.
As co-president of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, he speaks about the history and recognition of nearly a million Jews who left the Middle East and North Africa. He chairs the American Sephardi Federation's Council of Sephardic Sages and has received Spain's Orden del Mérito Civil. He lectures internationally on Jewish thought, law, and medical ethics, and is fluent in English, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, and French.
We left in 1971 because there was an incident and my family felt like a target.
Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie, interview with The National, 2020
Speaking Topics
What Rabbi Abadie talks about
1. A Refugee Childhood in Lebanon
His family's journey from Syria to Beirut, and their departure for Mexico in 1971.
2. Jewish Life in the Arab Gulf
What it meant to help build Jewish community life in the UAE and across the Gulf after 2020.
3. Jews from Arab Countries
The history, losses, and recognition of Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.
4. Sephardic Thought and Law
Sephardic rabbinic tradition, philosophy, and the legacy of the rabbi physician from Maimonides onward.
5. Faith and Medicine
Jewish medical ethics from the perspective of a practicing rabbi and gastroenterologist.
Select Talks
Selected talks and appearances
2025 | Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, opening lecture at the Exile of Jews from Arab Lands Conference (December 10) |
2025 | The Media Line, interview with Felice Friedson on Syria and the region; Justice for Jews from Arab Countries report release on losses of Jewish communities (quoted in Israel Hayom) |
2024 | Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative, Manhattan Jewish Hall of Fame inductee |
2021 | American Sephardi Federation Institute of Jewish Experience, webinar Reclaiming Identity: Jews of Arab Lands and Iran Share Stories of Identity, Struggle and Redemption (November 30, online) |
2021 | Yeshiva University Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs, online talks in English and Spanish, Jewish Life in the New Arab World: A New Chapter? (July 6 and 7) |
2021 | Vatican Conference 2021, listed speaker; Temple Shir Shalom, From Israel's Independence to the Abraham Accords (online) |
2020 | American Sephardi Federation at the Center for Jewish History, online lecture Preparing for the High Holidays: Sukkot, on Sephardic laws and traditions |
2019 | Center for Jewish History, New York, American Sephardi Federation international conference The End of Jewish Communal Life in the Arab Lands (December 2) |
2019 | The Bayit, Riverdale, New York, Shabbat lecture A Personal and Historical Journey of a Syrian Jew and of the Sephardic Jews (March 2) |
These are a selection of Rabbi Abadie’s talks. Rabbi Abadie has given many more, at synagogues, universities, museums, and international conferences in New York, Latin America, the Gulf, and beyond, in several languages.
Publications and Media
Read, watch, and listen
Profile
Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie, M.D.
Hall of Fame profile with his biography, education, and honors, Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative, 2024. Read the profile
Article
Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie on Syria's New Rulers: 'Wait and See'
Interview about Syria, Jewish heritage, and the region, The Media Line, 2025. Read the interview
Article
Meet the UAE's Arabic speaking rabbi in residence who fled Lebanon as a child
Profile of his childhood, languages, and move to the UAE, The National, 2020. Read the article
Video
Jewish Life in the Arab World
Yeshiva University news coverage of his 2021 talks on Jewish life in the new Arab world, 2021. Read about the talk
Affiliations
Organizations
- Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (Co-President)
- American Sephardi Federation (Board; Chair, Council of Sephardic Sages)
- World Sephardic Educational Center (Board)
- Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (former rabbi)
- Jewish Council of the Emirates (former Senior Rabbi)
- Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, New York (founding rabbi)
- Yeshiva University, Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies (former director)
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