Ḥakham Yiṣḥaq Chouʿa
ISAAC
CHOUA
Educator, researcher, and rabbi.
A Lebanese Jew raised in Brooklyn. I research, write, and teach across Jewish history, the Middle East, language, and the questions of the day.
Educator, researcher, and rabbi.
A Lebanese Jew raised in Brooklyn. I research, write, and teach across Jewish history, the Middle East, language, and the questions of the day.
"I have no enemies, O God,
but if I am to have an enemy,
Let his strength be equal to mine,
That truth alone may be the victor."
I write and teach, help build institutions, and bring history and education into public life. The subjects run wide—Jewish history and thought, the Middle East, language, current events, but the purview isn't scattered: ancient texts and the day's news wrestle with the same arguments.
What holds it together is simple: the Jewish people and their history, the Sephardic and Eastern world I come from, and the belief that America is a place to carry it forward. I read closely and write honestly.
The subjects change. The method stays the same.
What follows—across policy, communal life, speaking, writing, and exhibitions—is a selection. The complete record is longer.
Council for a Secure America (CSA)
Director of Operations and Programming. CSA links U.S. energy security to the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship. I work on diplomatic outreach, programmatic briefings, operations, and research initiatives focused on U.S. national security, energy and natural resources, and the Abraham Accords.
Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA)
NY Programming Lead. JIMENA preserves the stories and heritage of Jewish communities from across the Arab world. In New York, I lead programming, build an educators cohort developing curriculum on Sephardic history and the post-1948 Jewish exodus, and partner with institutions to bring this history into mainstream Jewish education.
Kehila Kedosha Janina (KKJ)
Associate Museum Curator. A living Romaniote synagogue and museum in the Lower East Side, one of the last of its kind in the world. I help build the exhibitions and teach Sephardic and Romaniote history to everyone who walks through.View current exhibits ↗
Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America
Rabbinic Advisor and Central Council Member. Founded over 100 years ago, the Brotherhood is one of the oldest Sephardic organizations in the country, dedicated to tradition, scholarship, and communal life. I sit on the Central Council, serve as Rabbinic Advisor, and write holiday and educational guides for the community.
World Jewish Congress (WJC)
Three roles: MENA Jewish Communities Liaison, Global Interfaith Lead, Jewish Diplomatic Corps Manager. The WJC represents Jewish communities in more than 100 countries. At WJC I worked on MENA Jewish community relations and led a worldwide leadership corps of more than 400, producing training curricula, exhibitions, books, and events, and organizing delegations and diplomatic meetings ranging from interfaith gatherings to ambassadors and local governments. I drafted remarks delivered at the UN Human Rights Council.
An exhibition I headed and ran for the World Jewish Congress: the artists, scholars, musicians, and writers of Jewish communities across the Middle East and North Africa, country by country. Presented at venues around the world and honored at Queens Borough Hall for Jewish Heritage Month with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
An exhibition I launched at Kehila Kedosha Janina: silver votive plaques, rare prayer books, and handwritten liturgical poetry sealed in the synagogue's own archive for nearly 30 years, recovered when the code to the storage was finally found. Now permanently installed.
Published & featured inThe Times of Israel · JNS · The Jerusalem Post · JTA · Religion News Service · Brill · Vatican News
My newsletter: essays on Jewish history and thought, the Middle East, language, current events, and whatever else has my attention.
Propelling Education Forward at a Time of Crisis
Making the case for a unified action plan to strengthen the Jewish community and make Jewish education affordable. Jewish News Syndicate
A Beacon of Hope: The Abrahamic Family House
On a delegation to the UAE and what the Abrahamic Family House reveals about the country's place in the Middle East. The Times of Israel
From Division to Dialogue: Lessons from Passover
On how the Passover seder brings a community to resolve through questions and honest argument. The Times of Israel
Jews Are Commanded Not to Rejoice at the Death of Any Human Being
Responding to calls that treated the Turkey-Syria earthquake as divine retribution. Jewish News Syndicate
Mishʿarotam: Living the Exodus
On Passover traditions across MENA Jewish communities, and the manuscript variant that turns recollection into reenactment. Yahad.net
Food and Drink, Modern Period: Lebanon
Brill, Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World
The Drumlanrig Accords
A Muslim-Jewish leadership accord signed at Spencer House in London on February 11, 2025, and presented to His Majesty the King at Buckingham Palace. Built on a framework for sustained collaboration and principled dialogue, the Accords commit senior Muslim and Jewish figures to engaging their differences honestly rather than allowing them to drive division. Rabbi Isaac Choua had a hand in drafting it.
From Hidden Providence to Open Freedom: Purim, Pesah, and the Arc of Jewish Renewal
Torah and Taverna Night at Kehila Kedosha Janina. On how Purim and Passover speak in different languages: one closes a year in concealment, the other opens it in revelation.
My Lebanese-Jewish Heritage
A talk for Harif on Lebanese-Jewish heritage and personal family history: what Jewish life looked like in the Arab world, the community of Beirut and its people, and what it means to carry that story forward. Harif: Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa
Remembering the Forgotten Jewish Refugees
A panel on the history of Jewish communities expelled from Arab countries after 1948: who they were, what they left behind, and why their story has largely been absent from mainstream conversations about refugees and displacement. With Adela Cojab, Sara Aharon, and Abraham Hamra.
Sephardi Jewry and the Abraham Accords
A conversation with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) on the Abraham Accords from a Sephardic and MENA perspective: how Jewish communities indigenous to the region experience normalization, what historical ties they bring to the table, and the roles Sephardic Jewry has played and continues to play. Jewish World, the ECAJ Podcast
For speaking, teaching, writing, or communal work, I would be glad to hear from you.
