Job Discussion Forums

[dparansky]

Hi. I've been thinking about the possibility of teaching in the UAE. I'm a non-observant Jew with an obviously Jewish name. Would this be any issue if I were to go to the UAE and teach, in terms of my safety? Oh, also, I'm an American. Thanks for any thoughts.

[NadiaK]

I know of several teachers in the UAE with Jewish or Jewish-sounding names, and I'm not aware that it has caused them any problems. That said, I strongly suspect that it would be wise to *not* mention your ethnic origin to any students or local acquaintances as there is an unfortunate tendency to confuse "Jewish" with "State of Israel" (the latter being very unpopular in this part of the world, as you are no doubt aware). You may also need to give your religion as something other than Jewish when applying for visas etc.

[Gauguin]

Is this posting Kosher?

gauguin

[Stephen Jones]

Don't ask don't tell.

[veiledsentiments]

I have met a number of people of Jewish ancestry who taught in the Gulf. Every one of them put 'Christian' on their job applications. I suggest that if you are serious, you do the same.

VS

[trapezius]

One of my colleagues in SAUDI was Jewish, and he just didn't tell anybody.

Heck, he even served in the Israeli military for 1 or 2 years.

[kiefer]

[stoth1972]

Many phrases from the Quran may be extracted out of context to support a variety of arguments.

[007]

What�s wrong to be a Jewish and living and working in the Arab/Islamic countries?
There are Arab Jewish living in Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, etc., And they are OK, even some of the Arab Jewish in Yemen declined the invitation from the �Israeli� government to immigrate to �Israel�.
As far as your passport is not an �Israeli� one, I do not see any obstacle for you to work in UAE or any other Gulf country.

[stoth1972]

007, all true. I think, though, it could cause some issues in applying for the work permit (even if there are no defined laws that state as much), and if nothing else, create a bit of a scandal w/ students.

[lyndalorient]

[trapezius]

[Henry_Cowell]

[trapezius]

(MOD edit)

Not only does that not count for the purposes of this thread, but this is what I was responding to:

[veiledsentiments]

You are probably wrong Trapezius and there are likely still very small numbers of most elderly Sephardic Jews living in most of the Arab countries - especially in the Levant and North African countries, but I do believe that they have all left the Gulf countries. Oman once had a significant Jewish population.

But that is not relevant to this thread anyway because the existence of the remnants of local Jews don't have anything to do with any written or unwritten rules about European or American Jews coming in as teachers. I think that they would be the first to understand that the political situation today might mean that they would not be welcomed... or even hired... if they applied openly.

But, the fact is that if you are a secular Jew who would like to teach in the Middle East, you merely have to tell them that you are a Christian as many have done for years. If lying about this is a problem for you, then it is best not to apply.

After all, there are all those Christian schools all over China that require that you be religious Christians... and I know quite a few people who pretended to be born agains to get jobs - while sneaking off on weekends to drink and chase the Chinese girls.

VS