For all of you beginning your commemorations this evening of the Seleucid Empire getting their arses handed to them by the Maccabees and the ensuing miracle of the one day's oil burning for eight, we wish you a very happy and blessed Hanukkah.
Did you know there have been Jews in Ireland for more than a thousand years? That Jewish relief saved Irish lives during An Gorta Mór, the great famine? That Daniel O'Connell, the liberator himself, once said "Ireland has claims on your ancient race, it is the only country that I know of unsullied by any one act of persecution of the Jews". Did you know that former Israeli president Chaim Herzog was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin? That Otto Jaffe, two time Lord Mayor of Belfast was Jewish? As was former Lord Mayor of Cork city Gerald Goldberg. And Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron. Did you know that? Well, then we've learned a little something today, haven't we?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
"An Gorta Mor" means "The Great Hunger" not "The Great Famine."
At the time, there was no famine. There was plenty of wheat in the fields and cattle grazing contentedly. Except that every bit of all that lifesaving food was shipped off to England as the native Irish died by the hundreds of thousands at the roadside.
So, please, no "famine."
"Starvation" and "depopulation," yes, but certainly no shortage of food.
Sicerely,
Pete Maher
Publisher & Editor
Irish Focus
Once upon a time, I found online some photos of the synagogue in Dublin. I can't remember the URL, but the building and the stained glass windows were incredibly lovely. Come to think of it, I think I'll re-google it...
I know what An Gorta Mór means, Pete. I also know that one definition of the word famine is "extreme hunger; starvation". Semantic hoop-jumping aside, to call what happened in Ireland in the mid 19th century a great famine is entirely accurate.
"Regoogle"...I love it. Let me know it you find it, Martha. Sounds lovely.
Post a Comment