The History of Jewish Cork — As Told By YouTube
--
Browsing through YouTube recently, I came across several videos telling the story of Jewish Cork. I’m embedding these here into one article as many remain interested in the Jewish narrative in Ireland. (I recently covered the subject here and on Times of Israel. Link below)
This touching piece from RTÉ Cork reporter Jennie O’Sullivan tells the story of the origins and gradual decline of the Cork Hebrew Congregation. It features an interview with my late grandfather, Fred Rosehill, ZL. I make a cameo appearance — evidently in days when I was in need of a better barber!
For those interested in knowing about how the vicklemen (Yiddish: door to door salespeople) established home in Ireland, after migrating, largely, from Lithuania, this eight minute clip, for RTÉ Nationwide, does a nice job at laying out the history of the community.
JewishCork.com, the website of the Cork Hebrew Congregation (CHC), has a rough textual equivalent here.
Other Videos
In this video, George from Ireland — Reflections shoots a video outlining the history of the community in front of the former synagogue on South Terrace. The synagogue was deconsecreated, and closed for Jewish worship, in early 2016.
George tells the story of the synagogue’s closure and of the rise and fall of Cork’s Jewish community.
Walking Tours
When Jews arrived in Cork, many of them settled in Jewtown (Hibernian Terrace) — located just a few hundred meters from the synagogue on South Terrace. The area is still known by that appellation to some older Cork residents.
The National Sculpture Factory in conjunction with Cork City Council and Bord Gásis put on a commemorative project, Evening Echo, in one of the area’s green spaces.
Dave Lane has uploaded these two short clips providing a tour of Jewtown’s streets by Albert Place.
Finally, Ruti Lachs has uploaded this virtual walking tour of Jewish Cork. The video provides some information about the Evening Echo art installation as well as the history of the community.
Jewish Ireland Videos
In addition to videos about Cork’s Jewish community, there are videos on YouTube about Ireland’s Jewish community and the Jewish experience in Ireland. Here are some of them.
Ruth Gilligan, an author, has taken an interest in the Irish Jewish experience and gave this lecture on their experience to the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.
