Bahrain launches first dating app for Jews in the Gulf

The first-ever dating app and website for Jews in Gulf countries have been launched, following the first Jewish wedding in over 50 years held in the Gulf island of Bahrain last month.

The match-making service, called Jewish Singles in the Gulf was started by the Bahrain-based Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC), with the aim of connecting the small Jewish community across the Gulf. It is hoped that through dating and marrying other Gulf Jews, the community will grow.

“By helping these singles find their spouses in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council], they are more likely to get married here and establish their families here, which in turn grows Jewish communal life and the need for more Jewish institutions like schools, kosher food, etc,” Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo, president of AGJC, said in a statement.

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The association’s rabbi, Dr Elie Abadie, explained: “The buzz around JSG has reverberated around the world and in the weeks leading up to the launch of the platform, we received interest from dozens of singles in the region.”

“We are starting with a website and hope to grow this into singles events and programs very soon. It is so important for us to work with singles living in our region to help them find relationships with other Jews.”

The AGCJ was established earlier this year and has already hosted a number of events for the Jewish community which now has a Rabbinic Council – the Beth Din of Arabia and a Kosher Certificate Agency. It comes a year after the US-brokered Abraham Accords which saw the UAE, which now has the largest Jewish population among GCC countries, and Bahrain normalise ties with Israel. Sudan and Morocco followed suit.

READ: Bahrain hosts its first Jewish wedding in 52 years