Sunday, April 16, 2006

Irish Jews upset!

I'm just curious. Do you think that Irish Jews have a nice Kiddush Club in Shul? Jpost: Ireland's Jewish community is expressing dismay after learning that the country's upcoming census will not include a distinct category for Jews in the section concerning religious identity.....The forms to be used in the census, to take place on April 23, include a question that asks, "What is your religion?," which is followed by seven boxes that respondents may check to indicate their reply. These include Roman Catholic, Methodist and Muslim, but not Jewish.....Instead, those wishing to identify themselves as Jews will have to register their religion as part of the "other" category. Ireland's Jewish community numbers just 1,790, according to the 2002 census, or less than 1 percent of the population. Previous census forms included a separate category for Jews, but it was dropped in 2002.....Irish Chief Rabbi Ya'acov Pearlman told the Post Tuesday by phone that "it would be nice to have a box to be ticked off for Jewish people and to be recognized that we are a community here." However, he said, the community is indeed small, "so it is understandable" that no separate category for Jews was included on the forms."I am sure there was no anti-Semitic intent" behind the decision, he added. At its peak in the late 1940s, Ireland's Jews numbered approximately 5,500, but emigration and other factors resulted in the community's decline.But due to robust economic growth over the past decade, Ireland experienced a surge in immigration, leading many to believe that this year's census may reveal an increase in the Jewish population.....
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