Jewish Ireland: A Social History

Jewish Ireland: A Social History is an engaging and thoroughly researched panorama of Irish Jewry. Based on library and archival material, private memoirs and oral testimony, it traces Irish-Jewish life from the 1880s when Orthodox Russian Jews, forced to flee Tsarist persecution, began arriving in Ireland without any means of support, little secular education and no understanding of English. Overcoming poverty and antipathy, they established Jewish enclaves around the South Circular Road in Dublin and in townships and cities throughout Ireland, educated themselves from peddlers to professionals and entrepreneurs, took an active part in the Irish civil war and other major conflicts, engaged in national politics and sport and achieved acclaim in literature, art and music. This insightful and often humorous portrayal of a people underlines the contribution made to Ireland by its Jewish citizens and gives an invaluable understanding of the Jewish way of life to the wider community.