Hurling in Dublin

No... not quite what you were expecting from the title, although afterwards more than a few pints were consumed at the traditional meeting place.

Remember hurling? The ancient and still vital game of Ireland. We had the exceptional good luck to be invited to the all-Ireland quarter finals by Hannah's cousin, Gene. While the first match lacked some excitment--one of the teams was hopelessly outclassed--the second game was a nail-biter, and even featured the underdog, Waterford, coming up from behind and able to maintain a thin margin of points over their opponents, right until the end. Injuries were plentiful but I'm still amazed that no deaths occured. A testament to the skill of the players.

Ahh, but there are even more exciting and odd diversions to be found on Dublin's back streets. We had the privilege of visiting the one, and only, Irish Jewish Museum. A small and unassuming place, rarely heard of and even more rarely visited. But it was charming, a detailed and lovingly preserved history of this small, close-knit community. The story, as it is remembered, is the Jews came by boat to Cork from Lithuania. They had bought passage to America and when the captain stopped and told them they had arrived, it seemed reasonable enough. Everything must have looked different and the streets were filled with people speaking English. So off the deck and on to the New World--Cork, Dublin and Limerick. The captain made a nice profit, going a quarter of the distance, and picked up new passengers for the trans-Atlantic leg of the trip.

Given the desparation of the Irish economy, the population of Jews did not increase, and the population of Dublin's synagogues has dwindled, lost to emigration, assimilation, and migration to the suburbs. But the recent economic boom has seen the return of Jews to this island, even small communities of Israelis.

It seemed a fitting pilgrimage for the last day of our trip. The rest was spent packing, fortifying ourselves with one last Irish fry-up, and preparing for the long and circuitous journey home.