The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-04-26
THE JEWS IN IRELAND
NUMBER ABOUT SIX THOUSAND
oNE-HALF OF THEM IN DUBLIN
A JEWISH COMMUNITY IN IRE
LAND IN TWELFTH CENTURY.

A writer in the Canadian Jewish
Times gives some interesting informa-
ton about the Jews in Ireland He
says:
I'm all the four Provinces of Ireland
-Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Con-
nacht-with general population of
over four millions, there are about six
thousand Jewish Inhabitants, and of
these quite half dwell in one city alone
Dublin, the capital. In only two
other cities, Belfast and Cork, are
Jews settled in any appreciate de-
gree, the former containing about one
thousand and the latter slightly less
Dimfnutfve communities exist in Linn
erick and Waterford in the South, and
in Lurgan in the North; but as yet
the Western Province of Connacht is
actually without a Jewish element.
This peculiar aversion of Jews for
this part of Ireland is seen by sta
tistics taken from the official census
of 1901, where the record stands that
while Lefnster had 2,246 Jews, Ulster.
851, and Munster $40 Jews, only four
Jews resided in the whole Province
Of Connacht, which is the stronghold
of the Irish Roman Catholic peasantry.
"As far back as the twelfth century
of the present era there was a Jewish
community in Ireland. On July 28th,
1882, Henry III, King of England, en-
trusted the custody of his Jewish sub
jects in Ireland to Peter de RIVAL Cor
Riveaux), and we find mention in the
Dublin White Book, under date 1241,
of law prohibiting the placing of
pledges with Jews-'in Judaismo
ponere.' Evidently our ancestors did
not find Ireland too hospitable, for
among the penalties imposed upon
Jewish delinquents in the sister is
land, was that of Punishment to Ire
land. We must presume that with the
expulsion of Jews from England by
Edward in 1890, those in Ireland had
also to go, and that until Cromwelrs
edict of 1855 permitting their re-
establishment in England, there were
no Jews at all in Great Britain and
Ireland. Yet, thirty years previously,
about 1920, there is actual record of
a Jewish merchant, named Davidlom,
having purchased property in Meath,
county in the Province of Leinster.
In the reign of Queen Anne (1702-
1714) the Jewish community of Lon
don was honored by visit from Rabbi
Aaron Sophair, of Dublin, and in 1745
the Hebrew congregation in the Irish
capital numbered forty families.
There is an amusing episode, con-
nected with the rise of the Dublin
Jewish community. The first synagog
was a room in a tenement house in
Stafford Street, and afterwards, in
1885, in Mary's Abbey. Two brothers,
named Phillips, were in charge of the
synagog's affairs, which were in a
deplorable condition. The congrega-
ton fell into arrears for rent, and the
landlady, when payment had alto
gether ceased, one day entered the
'synagog' and stole the Scrolls of the
Law, with which she made off across
the Irish Channel The brothers
Phillips went in pursuit, and at length
recovered the sacred object, but not
before literally compromising the ag-
grieved landlady with borrowed
money. Thenceforth the startled con-
gregation redoubled their efforts to
maintain place of worship which
should be immune from such outrage
in future and after almost super
human exertions suitable edifice was
built twenty years ago in Adelaide
Road.
"This synagog is one of compare
tive magnificence, and is prettily stu
ated. A canal runs at the rear, and
gardens and Fairgrounds are on either
side. The National Schools occupy
the basement, the pupils being all
Jewish children; but the head teacher
is a Christian. The interior of the
synagog is fairly capacious, accommo-
dating fully five hundred of both
sexes. The ladies-as is usual in
larger synagogs- seated in a bal
cony. The 'binah' is just in the
center of the floor, about half dozen
tiers of seats separating it from the
arched recess where the 'Oron Ka-
desh' is stationed"