Jewish Children Learn Gaelic in Irish Schools, but Know Hebrew Too, Irish Rabbi Says

Jewish children are being taught the Gaelic language in the public schools of the Irish Free State, since the study of the old Irish language was made compulsory in the public schools by the Free State government, and are making rapid strides in the acquisition of that tongue, according to Rabbi Abraham Gudansky, senior rabbi of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, who was interviewed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency a few days after his arrival in New York for a six weeks’ visit among relatives and friends in this country.

“What about the Hebrew language?” the Rabbi was asked.

“Jewish children in Dublin get a fine Hebrew education in the Talmud Torah there,” he responded. “They have a Hebrew-speaking club in the school and even when the children graduate they often conduct lectures and debates in our old-new tongue. Furthermore, we have already purchased a plot of ground in the Jewish vicinity of Dublin for the purpose of erecting a Jewish school which shall serve both secular and religious purposes. We expect that the government will provide part of the funds necessary for the erection of the building and for the payment of the salaries of the secular teachers. The school will be ready within the next two years.”

8,000 JEWS IN IRELAND

There are now eight thousand Jews living in Ireland, including both the Free State and Ulster, said Rabbi Gudansky. The largest communities are in Dublin, which has between four and five thousand, and Belfast, which contains about two thousand Jews. There are small Jewish communities in Cork, Limerick and Londonderry. Dublin has two large synagogues, with three “chevrahs.”

The Irish people are friendly towards the Jews, who are loyal citizens of the Free State, declared the Rabbi further. He and Dr. Herzog, the other Dublin rabbi, are invited to all state functions. Rabbi Gudansky is intimately acquainted with President Cosgrave and several of the cabinet members of the Irish Free State. There is only one Jew who is a member of the Free State Parliament, or “Dail Eireann”; he is Robert Briskoe, a member of De Valera’s Republican faction. There are now two famous Jewish medical men in Ireland; one is Dr. Bethel Solomon, gynecologist, master of the Rotunda Hospital, a Protestant institution of Dublin and the first non-Protestant to head that hospital; the other is Dr. Leonard Abramson, who is now president of the Biological Society of Ireland. The above three are all members of Rabbi Gudansky’s congregation.

RESPONSIBLE FOR 2 INDUSTRIES

Most of the Irish Jews immigrated there from Lithuania and Courland, he stated. They were responsible for the creation of two industries in Ireland— clothing and furniture.

Rabbi Gudansky himself was born in Vilna, Lithuania, 55 years ago and has been rabbi in Dublin for the past twenty-nine years. He is also dean of the Jewish residents in the National University in Dublin, and among others has two American Jewish students under his care.