JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

03/14/08 04:59 PM

Tzvi,
Calm down - it’s the Irish national holiday. It just happens to also be a Catholic feast day. It was the national holiday long before Jews were established in Ireland; it would be wrong of Jews here to scorn it - we’re as Irish as anyone else.

Jon Ihle
Dublin

03/14/08 05:35 PM

Reading the original article in the Connecticut Jewish Ledger ["Hail the Loyal Yiddish Sons of Erin”, by Cindy Mindell, Marchy 12, 2008]
I can’t see why Ms. Frankel made those disparaging comments about the “Loyal Yiddish Sons of Erin.” Perhaps some aspect of Diaspora tradition ... escapes her.  If Irish Catholics can make a practice of remembering the heritage of “the Old Country” in the Irish diaspora, why not Irish Jews?

From what I can tell, by the way, the “Loyal Yiddish Sons of Erin,” at least in some form, still exists.  According to New York’s Daily News ["A parade truly for all Sunnyside, February 26, 2008], the Yiddish Sons of Erin were among marchers at this year’s “St. Pat’s for All Parade and Festival in Sunnyside, Queens, NY.

Almost three years ago to the day, on March 17, 2005, Brooklyn Borough president Marty Markowitz, head of the Brooklyn chapter of the Loyal League of Yiddish, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and Al O’Hagan of Brooklyn ’s Baile na nGael “Home of the Irish” hosted the 3rd annual Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast at Borough Hall. Commodore John Barry, father of the American Navy and great Irish-born Revolutionary War hero, was honored, and young dancers from the O’Malley Irish Dance Academy performed. “And of course, Marty served his world famous green bagels.”

{It might be worth checking out “Anybody can be Jewish on St. Pat’s’ // Tradition keeps Yiddish Sons of Erin in parade” [Chicago Sun-Times, March 12, 1989].}

Two dozen years ago, The New York Times ["NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Begorra And Shalom,” August 23, 1984], published a rather interesting article on the group.  At that time, its founder and president, League, Michael Mann, was inducted as chief brehon - grand marshal - of Brooklyn’s Great Irish Fair by Borough President Howard Golden. As you may know, the Dublin-born Mr. Mann, who once was the regional director of the AFL-CIO, is Jewish.

‘’Jews aren’t easy to come by in Ireland,’’ the NYTimes quotes Mann as saying, ‘’but we don’t meet in a telephone booth.’’ The article noted that he and 60 other emigres belong to the league, whose letterhead lists two greetings - ‘’Erin Go Bragh’’ and ‘’Shalom’’ - and one slogan - ‘’Ireland’s finest exports, Kosher-style.’’ According to Mr. Mann the organization was ‘’active in supporting Ireland’s and Israel’s struggles to be free of oppression.’’

A friend of mine in New York, “a member of the Loyal League of the Yiddish Sons of Erin ... made so by Mike and Rosie Mann, G’d bless them!” just wrote me that Mann took great pride in his dual heritage. 

Brother Mann, the New Yorker from Dublin, passed away in December 1989.  His obituary noted “The youngest of 10 children, Mr. Mann spent his early years in the Jewish section of Dublin and took great pride in his dual heritage. In 1964 he founded the Loyal League of Yiddish Sons of Erin, a fraternal and charitable organization of Jews born in Ireland. He was its president until his death.”

By the way, performers Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara are both honorary members of the Loyal League of the Yiddish Sons of Erin,.

03/14/08 05:45 PM

IRISH VOICE - April 2, 2004

The Yiddish Sons of Erin

JONATHAN Harris, mayor of West Hartford in Connecticut, had an interesting op-ed in the Hartford Courant over the St. Patrick’s period, recalling the contribution of Jews to the Irish battle for independence.

Harris noted that the period from 1881 to 1911 represented the high point of Jewish immigration to Ireland, mostly from Lithuania. At its high point about 6,000 Jews emigrated, and Dublin even had its own “Little Jerusalem” neighborhood. Many of those who came performed valiantly in the Irish War of Independence.

Indeed, so nationalistic were they that they formed the Judeo-Irish Home Rule Association in 1911, and Fanny Goldberg of Cork was a great heroine when she joined the revolutionary forces during The Troubles. Many other Jews became decorated IRA war veterans.

Harris also notes that an organization known as the “Loyal League of the Yiddish Sons of Erin” marched every year in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City. Fascinating to find out if any of those marchers are still around and if the organization still exists in any form.

03/15/08 04:53 PM

Furniture from one of the oldest shuls in Dublin - Adelaide Road - where has been donated to a shul in Israel with Irish connections - read about it here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964271.html
The first Chief Rabbi of both Ireland and the State of Israel, Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog, was the Rabbi of the shul for 17 years and his son, Chaim Herzog, former President of Israel, celebrated his bar mitzvah at the historic site. His grandson, Isaac Herzog, Israeli Knesset Member & Government Minister, will attend the shul inauguration on April 29, 2008.