is there such a thing as irish jews? can you basically hail from any country, or any ethnicity and be labeled that?
Judaism is a religion. Period. It doesn’t matter what ethnicity you are, or in what country you reside.
Sure there are a bit about them here. I recall a documentary film was made about them somewhat recently called Shalom Ireland surely Google would have something on it.
Max Grodenchik (the actor who played “Rom” on star Trek: Deep Space Nine) tells an amusing story along these lines. He was traveling in Ireland and a cabbie asked him: “So, are ye Catholic or Protestant?”
Grodenchik was a bit taken aback by the boldness of the question and replied: “Well, I’m Jewish.”
The cabbie immediately asked: “Yeah, but are you Catholic Jewish or Protestant Jewish?”
In fact, both Robert Briscoe, who was mayor of Dublin in 1956 and 1961 and his son, Ben Briscoe, mayor of Dublin 1988, were Jewish, as were Sir Otto Yaffe, mayor of Belfast in 1899, and Gerald Goldberg, mayor of Cork in 1977. Current estimates show about 1400 Jews in the Republic and 500 in Northern Ireland.
That’s Sir Otto Jaffe.
I am an irish/italian jew by marriage. So is my friend Shamus O’Goldstein.
Well, since Ireland was settled by one of the Lost Tribes…
At one of the local synagogue celebrations, I met a woman born in Belfast. She told me that there was a synagogue there.
Etnicity is irrelevant. Judaism is a religion, and in some ways a culture. There are Jews all over the world in a multitude of sizes, shapes and colors. Remember that Sammy Davis Jr, the Candyman himself, was a Jew.
That brings up the famous anecdote about Yogi Berra, the American baseball star. Years ago, a teammate was reading the paper, saw an article about Robert Briscoe, and said, “Hey Yogi, did you see this? A Jew just became mayor of Dublin.”
And Yogi replied, famously, “Only in America!”
Another famous Irish Jew: Israeli politician Chaim Herzog was from Ireland, and spoke with a noticeable brogue.
Of course, the most noteworthy Irish Jew of all is fictional: Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce’s “Ulysses.”
Sure.
The people at the Progressive Temple in Dublin are really nice. As in nicer than the people at the synagogue that I’ve attended since I was a wee AnnaLivia. One of the only regrets I have about going to Scotland instead of Ireland. There’s even a Jewish museum that gets packed with nice old guys on Sunday mornings.
There are other congregations as far North as Belfast and as far south as Cork (although the community has gotten very small). In fact, there’s a website. It gives you mostly college communities, but gives a general climate/nearest synagogue
Uni Guide
;j
Hannah Levy
Although he did convert. And that just confirms that you can be many religions while hailing from any country or claiming any ethnicity.
Moderator’s Note: Even though it’s about a.) religion, b.) ethnicity and c.) Ireland, it’s still a General Question.
AnnaLivia
Tell me more! I’ve always been fascinated by the affect of different languages and cultures on Jewish traditions. Jews in Europe created the Ashkenazic culture,Yiddish and gefilte fish. Jews in Spain and the Middle East created the Sephardic culture, Catalan, Ladino, and some really amazing falafel.
What effect have Ireland and Scottland had on the Jews? I’ve heard rumors of a tartan belonging to a clan Kohaine. In the conflict between the Orange Men and the Green Men, where have the Goldmans and the Silverbergs been?
Can you get audio files of Hava Negila on the bag pipes?
Does anybody make Kosher haggis?There is a small Irish Jewish Museum in Portobello, which was the Jewish Quarter of Dublin in the 19th century. The story is that following various pogroms in Eastern Europe, many Jews made their way west, aiming for America. Some came via Ireland, liked it, and stayed. I used to live in Portobello in a house built by a Jewish immigrant in 1846, and there was a mezuzah embedded in the doorframe. The quarter is no longer exclusively Jewish, but my house was round the corner from a kosher deli, the synagogue, and the best damn bakery in Ireland (the Bretzel), which is also kosher.
dropsman- I have met Jews who believed that.
Well, it appears that the Bretzel is no longer kosher, though the last time I was lucky enough to shop there, in 2000, the certificate was still on the wall.
I should also point out that Leopold Bloom, the main protagonist in Joyce’s Ulysses, was Jewish, though this was apparently intended to give him ‘outsider’ status.
Donal F. Begley writes in his monograph The Peoples of Ireland:
In Ulysses Stephen Daedelus’ boss quips that Ireland is the only country without anti-Semitism because it is the only country that didn’t “let them in”. IIRC, the man making the assinine remark is Jewish.
Later in the day Bloom has a run-in with an anti-Semite at his local pub. It is this passage in particular which made the novel notorious in America, and which was used as the primary basis for banning it; while Bloom is drinking he hears, with distaste, a drunken British soldier using foul language. Bloom is a native-born Irishman married to a Catholic.
DOCCATHODE: Have you ever tasted regular haggis?
If not, don’t, it’s bloody awful…God only knows what kosher haggis would taste like!!!
;j