A day of distinction for Jewish community in Limerick and Ireland

LIMERICK played host to a day packed with significance for Ireland’s Jewish community, as four Torah scrolls — the holiest ritual object in Judaism — arrived on Shannonside.

There were emotional scenes at Limerick Council’s headquarters at Merchant’s Quay in the city centre as the scrolls, which contain the functional text of Judaism and which shape Jewish law, were formally received.

One of these scrolls will stay in Limerick, while the other three are to be donated to informal Jewish communities on the west coast, plus in Cork and Belfast.

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A Torah can weigh more than 18kg, and stand tall at 75cm, with the scroll spreading out the length of half a soccer field.

For this reason, it is very rare for Jewish communities in Ireland to possess the sacred text.

Sophia Spiegel, who represents the Jewish community in Cork explains: “It is written on parchment by hand, by somebody who is a specialised scribe. It takes a year to write them. They are very expensive - even €10,000 second hand. So it’s something that isn’t affordable for the smaller communities we have in Ireland.”

Although the Jewish community has been present in this country for more than 150 years, there are less than 50 members in the local area.

Yonit Kosovske, a member of Limerick and Shannon’s Jewish community said: “We are small, but we are growing. It fluctuates as well. We have individuals and families who live here, as well as students who come and go. We have a large number of Canadian students, as well as some from the USA.”

She acknowledged the Jewish community in Limerick looks very different to how it appeared previously.

“Then the Jewish community was composed of a lot of immigrants from eastern Europe, especially Lithuania. Some of those families who have stayed still identify as Jewish. Others have intermarried and may be of other faiths. A lot of those Jewish families who used to live in Limerick, the majority of them have since left and gone elsewhere,” explained Yonit.

It’s a small, but thriving group, however.

“People from all over - Ireland, the USA, Australia, Israel, South America, Spain. We are individuals, we are couples, we are families. We have a lot of LGBTI+ families. It’s a very diverse spectrum of people.” The four Torahs arrived on Irish shores thanks to a generous gift from a synagogue - the Jewish place of worship - in Boston, USA, which was closing due to a merger.

Taking up the story, Sophia said: “They had eight Torah scrolls to give away. They were the only synagogue left in the area. So they had inherited Torah scrolls from the other local communities. So they were trying to find good homes for them.”

It was through personal connections between Cork and Boston's Jewish community that the four scrolls arrived here.

They were a generous donation facilitated by Rabbi Ira Korinow, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Yonit explained that it was a big effort to transfer the scrolls over from the USA.

“We had to buy these cases which were securely custom-padded inside. It was extraordinary how these were brought back on the flight. When we came here, we had to disperse them to the four communities and arrange times to meet all over Ireland,” she said.

Limerick was chosen for the Torah Dedication Service due to its proximity, half way between Cork and Galway, where the west-coast branch operates.

Yonit added that it was a very unique, joyous ceremony, full of prayer, poetry and communal music-making.

“We paraded in the Torah scrolls under the canopy, under the chuppah. It’s definitely not something you see every day. It was very special. A lot of people were weeping during that moment.”

It was a doubly emotional day for Yonit - that’s because the service was led by her sister, Riqi Kosovske, a rabbi at a synagogue also in Massachusetts.

“Our four communities do not have designated rabbis. We are very lay-led. Sometimes we have guest rabbis, and guest leaders who come in. So it was very special for us to be led by her, and especially special for me,” smiled Yonit.

There was huge support for the event by people of all faiths and none.

Among the 80 people in the council offices were Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Bahaiis, and Sikhs.

The mayor was represented by Independent councillor Maria Donoghue, with the emphasis of the event being bridge-building across communities.

It is a homecoming of sorts for the four Torahs.

Believed to be around 100 years old, they would have originated in eastern Europe, before heading to the USA.

Now they are back on this continent.

It is perhaps an allegory for the journey many in the Jewish community have been on, said Yonit.

"Jews are often wandering, moving, searching, travelling and journeying,” she added.

Paula Rita Tabakin, a member of the Progressive Jewish Link in Northern Ireland, says having these Torahs affords the communities “a root”, or “a heart”.

“I don’t think an event like this has ever happened in Ireland - that four Torah scrolls came over at once. It’s unheard of, and then for four different communities to come together was really special and unique in Ireland,” she concluded.