If the Jewish Community in Cork Grows Again to Enough

I've written earlier virtually the trials and tribulations of making aliyah — and the ways in which I retrieve Israel's culture is similar to Republic of ireland'due south and differs from it. 

One of the benefits of staying in Israel long enough to be considered an oleh hadash-that-isn't-so-hadashis getting by the "where did you come up from and why did you motility to Israel?" routine that prefaces meeting new people here.

Having gone through the post-obit plenty times to last a lifeline (over the class of v years, I add), hither's a template FAQ to which I will be referring future inquisitors.

***

Person at Shabbat table: You have an accent! Where are y'all from?

Me: That's a Nachlaot emphasis. Didn't you lot know?

Person at Shabbat table: I hateful, where did yous liveearlierNachlaot?

Me:  Rechavia.

Person at Shabbat tabular array: Where are yousoriginallyfrom?

Me: I was built-in in a hospital.

Person at Shabbat tabular array: In what country was that infirmary located?

Me:Western Europe

Person at Shabbat tabular array:Oh, yous're from London! Do y'all know Harry Cohen? How about Rivka Solomons? Have you lot visited Golders Green?

Me:  (Reluctantly) No, I'grand from Ireland.

—Israelis and olim alike very seldom meet people from Ireland and assume that all English speaking olim are, past default, from the US. Then, to fend off a puzzled "Eer-land?!" I sometimes need to add together, for emphasis, "Guinness!" "Riverdance! " "Michael Flatley!"—

Person at Shabbat tabular array:Oh, you're from Ireland! I've never met a Jew from Republic of ireland! Are at that place many Jews in Ireland? (Why practice people ever ask these two questions in this exact succession? )

Me:It's a very small community. There are about ii,500 Jews in the country, mostly in Dublin. I grew upward in Cork, in the due south of the country.

***

One time the in a higher place routine has run its form I try to alter discipline equally quickly as possible.

Irish people's become-to for this purpose is always the weather — but in a country with as stable as anticipated a climate as Israel that doesn't assistance much.

That'south neat chicken soup, X, where did you get the recipe from?

My discomfort with talking about growing up in Ireland is definitely palpable and I'chiliad certain that it has given more than than i person pause for worry about my sanity. Why exercise I hate talking almost information technology?

For one, I've had this conversation about a thousand times. I have more to say well-nigh information technology than would be appropriate for friendly minor talk with somebody I've simply met (see: below). And, perhaps near significantly, because I moved to Israel, in large part, precisely to avoid this conversation — to get role of the mainstream.

So — for i time but — let me open up up a chip nigh it and give the subject a good airing.

Growing up Jewish in Ireland

The old synagogue on South Terrace in Cork. Photo: Cork Hebrew Congregation. (Reproduced with permission)

I was built-in in Dublin, Republic of ireland's capital, to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father.

Growing up, we lived overseas for a few years: in Aberdeen, Scotland and in The Hague in The Netherlands (my late father worked for Halliburton and the moves were job-related).

Subsequently a few years, we returned to Cork, Republic of ireland's 2d city, where my female parent is from. My belatedly maternal grandparents lived in the metropolis about twenty minutes' drive from our house.

It took me a while to even realize that I was Jewish — that I was somehow different from my friends and just about everybody except my immediate family unit members.

In fact, my first memories after moving back to Cork have nothing to do with faith at all. I take fond memories of making Lego movies with my friend and going through a phase of being obsessive about working out in the gym. The latter seems to take passed (sadly).

Gradually, the feeling that I was dissimilar — which is why, in event, I don't like talking about this — crept up on me. Slowly, insipidly at start, I began to feel similar a fish out of water.

That — for those looking for the TL;DR — is really how I would define my experience of existence an Irish Jew.

Of existence extremely uncomfortable with the exceptionalism of those dual and seemingly conflicting identities. And of existence very conscious of not quite fitting squarely into either bracket.

Part of the reason I don't like being wheeled out as the Irish gaelic Jew party play a joke on, or grilled about my groundwork, is because it makes me experience like an imposter. Because in truth, I've never felt authentically Irish gaelic. Or believed that I was perceived as such by my compatriots. In equal measure, it'southward too just an uncomfortable topic — and non all the memories which being reminded of my Irish-Jewish identity bring back are good ones.

Information technology'southward unsurprising, I guess, that my starting time memories of realizing that I was Jewish were through the lens of existence aware that I was different than the mainstream — the outsider, the odd i out.

Receiving exemptions from religious education in main and secondary school. Not really knowing what to do with my hands — or my optics — when The Angelus or The Lord's Prayer came through the school intercom organisation twice a mean solar day.

Bringing chicken sausages, in lieu of pork ones, to my primary school's barbecue and being asked how on earth chicken tin be put into sausages (the same way pork tin can?).

Cork'southward Jewish community, throughout the time I lived there but particularly before I left for Israel, was vanishingly minor.

My granddad, the late Fred Rosehill, effectively served as the tiny congregation's leader. This video (I make a cameo advent — and have a better barber now) does a nice task at explaining the community's origins, its history, and its slow demise.

The permanent community — at the 'height' I remember, at least — consisted of perhaps a dozen individuals, to offering a generous guess.

The community's ranks were swelled—usually temporarily, although occasionally not—by Israeli expats. They typically moved to Cork to work in one of the international companies dotted throughout the urban center. Many were not religiously inclined and interested in affiliating themselves with the tiny local Jewish community. Besides the very few that took up permanent residence in Cork, those that joined our ranks inevitably left when they returned to Israel — or elsewhere.

Gradually — as congregants died, disassociated from the community, or moved to Israel (or elsewhere) — the tiny numbers that information technology consisted of slumped fifty-fifty further.

To the point (which stretches as far back as I can remember) that assembling a minyanwas a heroic initiative that would require congregants travelling from adjoining counties for some special purpose. For High Holidays, Chabad trainee rabbis were "imported" from the Uk to ensure aminyan(quorom) throughout the day. They reported cartoon bewildered looks — and occasionally teasing leers — as they traveled through the city.

There were no regular services during my involvement with the Corkshul except for a Shabbat service that was held one time a calendar month. My bar mitzvah was the first to be held at the shul in a long time.

Growing up, I spent a considerable amount of time with my belatedly grandfather. Were information technology not for his influence and determination to keep the community going despite its small numbers, and the internet, I'm non certain that I would have had a strong enough Jewish identity to prioritize moving to a community where Judaism was practicable.

The Shul That Became A Museum

The bimah of the former Cork Synagogue on Due south Terrace. Photo: Cork Hebrew Congregation. (Reproduced with permission)

Growing up, I spent a large amount of time helping my grandfather to give tours of the synagogue to school groups.

And to accept care of the many unglamorous activities that go into maintaining even a small Jewish customs function (my belatedly grandpa was a stickler for making sure that the customs email newsletter list was always kept well updated!).

Countless schools and museum groups visited the shulon South Terrace which was later deconsecrated and is no longer in employ. At other times, these were visiting Jewish groups from the US who stopped  off in Cork during a prowl itinerary.

I thought kept creeping up on me, but more than so afterwards my first trip to Israel, was that the shulwas seeing more apply every bit a museum than information technology was as a place of religious worship. And Judaism doesn't belong in a history volume.

Withal, the real impetus to commencement looking for places to emigrate to was attending a Birthright trip to Israel when I was xvi or so.

A Chabad rabbi in Ireland — Rabbi Zalman Lent, who now serves as Rabbi at the Dublin Hebrew Congregation — got in touch as he was leading a group from Ireland on a Birthright trip to Israel. (At to the lowest degree, this is how I remember events).

At this time, my merely exposure to Judaism, as well helping out at the shul, was through listening to podcasts (Chabad.org'southward audio itemize, and so the wonderful Rabbi Eli Mansour, were my go-tos).

I attended Presentation Brothers Higher (PBC) — a Cosmic high school. Growing upward, I didn't take a single Jewish friend. This was due to demographic reasons rather than by pick: there were possibly two Jewish kids my age in the entire metropolis and canton and neither went to my school. At the time I attended, I was the simply Jewish pupil in the loftier school which had more than than 500 pupils.

Besides Cork, the simply Judaism I wasfamiliar with — from visits to family members away — was that of the diaspora (the UK, the US, and Israel are where most former Cork Jews accept moved to). There, every bit far every bit I could discover, Jews lived in close-knit communities, often attended separate high schools, and seemed to keep close to, but at a slight departure from, the societies that surrounded them.

Ultimately, what I perceived to be a somewhat closeted beingness appealed to me about as much equally staying in Cork with its almost total dearth of Jews and the institutions needed to alive an observant Jewish life (it probably goes without proverb, simply I should point out that there was no source of kosher meat either).

My first trip to State of israel opened my eyes to a unlike possible mode of life which both afforded the power to live a fulfilled Jewish existence but which didn't require choosing one's city or social circle based on their religion. (If you lot see Judaism as an ethnicity equally well as a organized religion this isn't as self-contradictory as it might at commencement seem!)

Information technology was a place where, dissimilar Cork, I wouldn't be a minuscule minority — where I was part of a community that was now a mostly historical artifact that evoked the occasional attention of the media and scholars besides as the reluctant interest of bored high school students who chose Judaism as one of their focuses for their Religious Studies exam.

As the world's just Jewish majority country — the one in which Judaism began — Israel as well offered something which the diaspora, in its entirety, simply couldn't.

A place where being Jewish was the norm. Where the things needed to alive a fulfilled Jewish life, including religious holidays, were baked into the state's very Deoxyribonucleic acid. And a social club in which keeping kosher didn't mean having to choose between three obscure restaurants in any neighborhood the city's Jewish customs deemed best suited to establish a center for itself.

On the linear scale of the Jewish earth, State of israel was the polar reverse of Ireland.

I was sold.

Staying in Cork

I don't believe in dwelling on regrets, but if I had to list one of my biggest ones and then far, it was probably staying in Cork for academy (equally well as studying something I wasn't passionate about — for another post, or better none at all).

The passing of my belatedly father, right before I started my law caste, had a lot to do with that. I had looked into studying in New York, the UK, and State of israel (and received offers), just I ultimately chose to attend my local university and live at domicile (regret number two; Take it fro me: you don't desire to be learning how to iron your clothes during ulpan!).

At this phase, my consciousness had been fully awoken to being Jewish — I was now educational activity myself ktav Rashito be able to learn the Talmud. But also to the fact that Israel was rather despised in the country I lived in.

Through my trips to Israel and the continued inspiration of Rabbi Mansour'south wonderful audio shiurim, I was also beginning to take religious observation more than seriously in a urban center and college campus that was about devoid of Jewish life.

To motility closer to keeping kosherfor instance I adopted a vegetarian and then pescetarian diet. Just I constitute the nutrition constricting. Also, having to keep quiet about my growing observance felt a scrap too much similar being a Marrano in Inquisition-era Espana.

As I entered university, I couldn't help simply find that merely mentioning State of israel in conversation felt akin to walking effectually campus with a megaphone and cursing one'due south lecturers. This is a battle and feeling that is probably familiar to many American readers. But in that location was something about facing this feeling almost alone that felt specially isolating.

Is In that location Actually No Anti-Semitism in Ireland?

When people ask what growing upward Jewish was similar in Ireland, they oftentimes next desire to know whether I encountered anti-Semitism during my 20 or so years living in the state.

The party line of Irish Jews since fourth dimension immemorial has been that the country is almost totally devoid of anti-Semitism and that Ireland has an exemplary and unique track record in existence well-nigh totally untinged by anti-Semitism.

To the extent that — save the Composition Pogrom — there haven't been whatever mass waves of overt anti-Semitism in the country those making that assertion are right.

Only internally — and here publicly — I have ever both contested that narrative and felt that several historical facts (such equally Jews' exclusion from certain social clubs to proper noun one) flatly contradicted that merits.

Growing up, I accept memories of us, and my grandpa, receiving anonymous anti-Semitic phone calls  and voicemails. As uncommon as these incidents were, they did happen. Repeatedly — and particularly when the Israeli-Arab disharmonize was at its well-nigh restive.

When I wound up the educatee news website that I founded and edited at the local academy, its Wikipedia folio was defaced with a comment alleging that the "main Jew" deleted the page "in a hissy fit". (On the second office, the poster wasn't wrong — I pulled the plug on the site rashly).

This unnerved me more than directly proper name-calling. Tracing the IP, I could see that information technology came from somewhere on the higher campus. Despite my best efforts to keep a very low contour about my Jewishness, somebody knew who I was, that I was Jewish, and evidently didn't like that fact. The hardest corruption to accept can be that which is cloaked in anonymity.

Other experiences that I call up every bit securely uncomfortable were more direct.

There was, for case, the English teacher who would frequently begin classes on literature by lecturing the class most how "the Jews" were stealing Palestinian land. Sitting a meter from the teacher, I maintained a fixated stare on my desk.

In general, and despite the above (which represent exceptions rather than the norm), I believe that Irish society is tolerant and respectful towards its minorities, including Jews. Simply as, I cannot say that I never experienced anti-Semitism while living in the state.

More than than that, though,  I always felt profoundly uncomfortable — and, I'grand sorry to say, embarrassed  — near existence Jewish in Ireland.

Although globalization is fast changing things, many Irish people just know near Jews and Judaism from American media.

Commonly, later mentioning that I was Jewish, my interlocutor would presume that I was joking. Before realizing that I was not and being hushed into embarrassed silence.

I was acutely aware of the fact that I was and am likely the first and just Jew that many of my friends had met exterior of the context of popular culture.

If my experiences seem exaggerated or imaginary, so I encourage everyone reading this to read the comments section on any story about Israel on Irish gaelic news websites.

While it's easy to dismiss those commenting on news websites equally a fringe merely vocal minority (another political party line), to watch many anti-Semitic canards enjoying open up and popular support was and remains highly disconcerting for me.

The Jews control the media; Israel is built on stolen country; what the Jews are doing to the Palestinians is worse than the Nazis. Statements like these slip into Irish conversations about Israel, whether in radio chat shows or on online fora — and opposition is thin on the ground.

The distinguishing feature of Irish opposition to Israel and its championing of the Palestinian cause is its ofttimes ferocious virulence.

To fail to accredit anti-Semitic motives to at to the lowest degree a portion of this tidal wave of hate — or to claim that there is no anti-Semitism in Ireland at all — is, in my opinion, to exist willfully disingenuous.

Why I Left Ireland

The above probably makes clear why I ultimately left Ireland and came on the crazy journey chosen aliyah. In doing and then, it may too leave the false impression that I deeply dislike the country of my birth —  which is very far from the case.

I enjoyed living in Republic of ireland fifty-fifty if — from a Jewish perspective — it caused me to feel increasingly alienated from the state whose passport I held and sick at ease with my own identity as an Irish gaelic Jew.

And if this sense of discomfort began at a slow simmer, then it reached boiling point when I began to identify with the Zionist cause — and sensed that about all of society held that movement, and frequently the existence of the State of Israel, to be anathema to their moral lawmaking.

Virtually pragmatically, I couldn't call back of a way to marry within the organized religion — something which I achieved by moving to Israel!. I as well couldn't envision a long term hereafter in a country where information technology felt like there was an obvious and sometimes painful noise between the passport I held and my organized religion. Nor one in which only mentioning the word 'Israel' felt similar breaking a societal bamboo —which left my options as either to join my phonation every bit a Jewish one in opposition to the state or wage a futile war to challenge mistruths and distortions through hasbara(I delved in that globe and  — as I recently wrote hither — I don't think that most hasbara is effective or a good employ of fourth dimension). And finally, simple truth be told, I couldn't tummy more fish and lentils.

Being Jewish in Ireland was slightly weird. Slightly embarrassing and uncomfortable (for me, mayhap as well for others). And something which I unremarkably felt everybody would prefer was just skipped over in chat whenever it cropped up. For me, and every bit my own sense of Jewishness and cocky matured, that simply  wasn't a epitome that was compatible with existence proud about who I was.

My emigration push gene was simply that I felt uncomfortable — at times profoundly and then — with being Jewish there.

The countervailing pull factor was that Israel offered a unique selling suggestion which no other Jewish community in the world could equal: somewhere where being Jewish was the norm rather than the exception.

For the record, while comparing my experiences in these two countries, there are aspects of Ireland that I far prefer to Israel.

Allow me end this blog mail service by listing them.

For one, I think that Republic of ireland has a warm and accepting culture — one which is largely free of the unbridled aggression that sadly seems to be endemic in much of Israeli gild.

Like Israel, Ireland punches higher up its weight internationally — both in terms of the success of its diaspora population and its prominence on the international stage.

Israel, like Ireland, has a relatively thriving tech scene — and ane which, like Israel, is focused internationally.

Shitat mazliachandfreierculture thankfully doesn't have a grip on Irish society equally it does here. Where Israelis value being frequently abrasively directly, the Irish value being friendly (if sometimes only outwardly) and congenial. In truth, I've come up to believe that both approaches have merit. Manners are treating others with consideration are emphasized virtues in Irish civilization — in Israel, all too ofttimes, the onetime regarded equally a waste of fourth dimension and words.

Despite all the above, and my sense of feeling proud most where I came from, I couldn't envision a future staying in Republic of ireland.

I was tired of feeling slightly ashamed and embarrassed nearly who I was: always the odd one out (even if that exceptionalism went unspoken).The slightly embarrassed (and perhaps embarrassing) exception to the Irish Catholic stereotype. Kyle from S Park — except in existent life.

Feeling comfortable in my own skin — and figuring out who I am (not quite Irish, non quite Israeli — mayhap simply a person figuring out his place in the earth?) is a ho-hum procedure of reawakening that is all the same going on to this day. Even as I write this.

Republic of ireland was, all things considered, kind to me and my family — who arrived in that location in the late nineteenth century (similar most Cork Jews) fleeing religious persecution and forced conscription in Lithuania.

I still take family in Republic of ireland, do business with clients in the country, and am proud to hold an Irish passport (and to fly its flag on my roof).

But — as the long history of the Jewish diaspora bears out, a legacy of nomadic wandering which I believe simply the founding of a Jewish state could interrupt — I, by moving to Israel, have broken a chain of living in the country that only stretches back iii generations. And that, in a nutshell, is partially why I believe that Israel must be.

Jews have shuffled between countries since the time they went into exile — facing periodic persecution and expulsions. Sometimes, the road has taken them to common destinations like New York or London. Sometimes to off the beaten track places similar Cork. The but place I can encounter us having sticking ability as a people, and beingness comfortable in our collective skin, is where it all began — hither in State of israel.

And that — in much more than particular than I typically volunteer at a Shabbat repast — is why I made aliyah.

nealwores1973.blogspot.com

Source: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-was-it-like-growing-up-jewish-in-ireland/