the former

Limerick Jewish Community

& Synagogue

Limerick, Ireland

JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and Gibraltar, both past and present.

Limerick Jewish Cemetery Ohel
Ohel at the Limerick Jewish Cemetery
Courtesy Steven Jaffe, 2022

City of Limerick

The city of Limerick (Irish: Luimneach), in southwest Ireland, lies on the river Shannon. Although geographically part of County Limerick, the city of Limerick has a separate administration and was officially referred to as a "County Borough" until 2001, when the term was formally replaced by "City". Although the city officially has a population of about 50,000, there are well approximately 90,000 living in Limerick and its immediate suburbs..

Limerick Jewish Community

Although there are reports of individual Jews in Limerick from the mid-nineteenth century, Jews only really began to settle in Limerick from about 1881. Many of the new arrivals were from Lithuania, in particular the village of Akmijan in the Kovno province. Although there had been some isolated acts of violence against the Jewish community in the 1880s and 1890s, members of the Jewish Community initially lived in relative harmony with their neighbours. However, on 11 January 1904, Father Creagh, of the Redemptorist Order, delivered a violent sermon against the Jews, accusing them of ritual murder, of blaspheming Jesus, and of robbing the people of Limerick. The next day there was a riot in which the Jews were attacked by mobs, and this was followed by a general boycott. It would appear that the principal ground for complaint against the Jews related to the "weekly-instalment plan" by which they frequently sold their goods. The boycott caused serious suffering and hardship among the Jews of Limerick.

Congregation Data

Name:

Limerick Synagogue

Last Address:

Wolfe Tone Street, Limerick (formerly known as 72 Callooney Street, Limerick until about 1930)⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Former Addresses:

63 Callooney Street, Limerick, from about 1903 to about 1930⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

18 Callooney Street, Limerick, from about 1889 until about 1903^(iv)

Previously services held in a private house in Emmet Place^(v) and in an ale house

Date Founded:

Early 1880s^(vii)

Current Status:

Closed in about 1947.^(viii) The Synagogue was sold in 1953.

Ritual:

Orthodox - Ashkenazi

Rival Congregations:

For a period in the 1880s/1890s there were two rival Jewish congregations in Limerick, with feelings between them at time running so bitter as to involve recourse to the civil courts. Eventually unity was achieved.

Ministers & Readers (Chazanim):
(To view a short profile of a minister or reader whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor over his name.)

Rev. Elias Bere Levin - minister and reader from about 1882 to about 1911^(xii)

Rev. A. Moscowitz - minister about 1913 to about 1914^(xiii)

Rev. I. Rabinowitz - minister 1914 to about 1919^(xiv)

Rev. J. M. Shatz - minister about 1919 to about 1920^(xv)

Rev. M. Freedman - minister about 1920 to about 1932^(xvi)

Rev. M. Gewirtz - minister about 1932 to about 1939^(xvii)

Lay Officers:^(xx)

Presidents

c.1880s - M. King^(xxi)

1896-1897 - L. Goldberg

1897-1900 - S. Aronovitch

1900-1901 - L. Goldberg

1903-1905 - Marcus Joseph Blonde

1905-1906 - P. Toohey

1906-1909 - Max L. Jaffé^(xxii)

1909-1911 - Wolf Toohey

1911-1912 - Benjamin Jaffé^(xxii)

1912-1913 - Hyman Graff

1913-1914 - J. Martinson

1914-1919 - M. Maisel

1919-1928 - S. Arnovitch

1928-1932 - M. Morrison

1936-1947 - G. Kaitcer

Hon. Secretaries

1896-1897 - A. Newman

1897-1900 - N.J. Hovsha

1900-1902 - Max L. Jaffé^(xxii)

1902-1903 - Marcus Joseph Blonde

1903-1906 - Hyman S. Cropmann

1906-1908 - Wolf A. Newman

1908-1909 - M. Liberman

1909-1910 - Alec Ginsberg

1910-1911 - Barnett Shochett

1911-1912 - S. Reuven

1912-1919 - N. Fine

1919-1928 - H. Levin

1928-1932 - G. Vyner

1932-1936 - Joseph Morrison

1936-1947 - N. Fine

Vice Presidents

1903-1905 - P. Toohey

1906-1909 - Barnett Graff

1909-1910 - Sidney A. Jaffé^(xxii)

1910-1911 - M.B. Moissel

Treasurers

1896-1897 - Barnett Graff

1897-1900 - S.M. Goldberg

1900-1902 - B. Moisel

1902-1903 - P. Tuchy

1903-1905 - Sidney A. Jaffé^(xxii)

1905-1906 - Max L. Jaffé^(xxii)

1906-1907 - Sidney A. Jaffé^(xxii)

1907-1908 - Solomon Jerome

1908-1909 - Hyman Graff

1909-1910 - Maurice Moisell

1910-1911 - M.B. Moisell

1911-1912 - Barnett Graff

1912-1913 - H. Levin

1913-1914 - J. Martinson

1914-1919 - Barnett Graff

1919-1928 - S. Marcus

1928-1936 - M. Ellisson

Membership Data:

Jewish Year Books (number of seat-holders)

1896

1897

1899

1900

1903

1906

1911

1945

25

35

45

44

30

27

23

30

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

(i) Reserved.

(ii) 72 Calloney Street was the address given for the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1906/07 until 1930, changing to Wilfe Tone Street from the 1931 edition. ↵

(iii) Jewish Year Books 1903/04 through 1905/06 ↵

(iv) From the first Jewish Year Book (1896/97) through 1902/03. ↵

(v) The Jews of Ireland (1972) by L. Hyman, p. 212. ↵

(vi) Reserved.

(vii) Precise date uncertain. ↵

(viii) Last appearance was in the Jewish Year Book of 1947. ↵

(ix) to (xi) Reserved.

(xii) The Jews of Ireland by L. Hyman (1972), p. 211 and Rev. Levin's listing as minister for the congregation from the first Jewish Year Book (1896/97) through 1913. ↵

(xiii) Based upon Rev. Moscowitz's listing as minister for the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1914. ↵

(xiv) Based upon a report in The Jewish Chronicle of 10 July 1914 relating to Rev. Rabinowitz's appointment and his listing as minister for the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1915 through 1927. ↵

(xv) Based upon Rev. Shatz as minister for the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1920 and a Jewish Chronicle report of 17 August 1920. ↵

(xv) Based upon Rev. Freedman's listing as minister for the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1921 through 1932. ↵

(xvii) Based upon Rev. Gewirtz's listing as minister for the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1933 through 1939. ↵

(xviii) and (xix) Reserved

(xx) Except where otherwise stated, the data listed here has been extracted from Jewish Year Books, first published in 1896/97. Where a person is first listed in a year book as holding a particular office, it has been assumed that his term of office commenced in the year of publication of the relevant year book and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant. (Initially year books corresponded to the Hebrew year, and thus ran roughly from autumn of one year - the year of publication - until autumn of the next year. From 1909, year books were published according to the Gregorian year, being published generally towards the end of the year prior to the year appearing in the title of the year book. For example, if an officer is listed in Jewish Year Books 1925 through 1928, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1924 and continued in office until 1928). However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and, accordingly, his actual years of office may differ somewhat from those shown here. Generally, where a first name is given, this has been obtained from other sources. Jewish Year Books were not published during WWII subsequent to 1940. However, where an officer is listed in a particular office both prior to and following World War II, it is assumed that he also served in such office throughout the war, although no data is currently available for such years. ↵

(xxi) The Jews of Ireland (1972) by L. Hyman, p. 210. ↵

(xxii) The spelling here of this surname has been standardised, although in various Jewish Year Books it has also been spelled Jaffe, Jaffee and Jaffey. Elsewhere, the spelling generally follows that used in the Jewish Year Books. ↵

Search the All-UK Database

The records in the database associated with Limerick include:

UK Jewish Communal Leaders Database - Limerick records:
- Jewish Year Book 1896/97 (records of 7 individuals); and
- JCR-UK Listings (records of 44 individuals - as of the March 2024 update).

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to the Limerick Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

Photographs from Limerick Jewish Cemetery.
Bibliography
- The Hebrews of Limerick 1904 - Volume VII in Irish Jewish Genealogy Series by S. Rosenblatt [2005].
- The Jews of Ireland by L. Hyman [1972], Chapter XXV - "The Jews of Limerick in the Nineteenth Century".
- Limerick Boycott 1904 Anti-Semitism in Ireland by Dermot Keogh and Andrew McCarthy [2005] (Mercier Press, Cork).
- Other Limerick Bibliography (if any).

on third parties' websites

"Father John Creagh, Irish Anti-Semite" by Claran Conliffe, on Headstuff website.
"The Limerick pogrom, 1904" by Kevin Haddick Flynn, on History Ireland website.
Revisiting the "Limerick Pogrom" of 1904 by Sean W. Gannon on The Irish Story website.
A hidden cemetery tells the story of Limerick’s Jews - blog by Patrick Comerford, 2 July 2017.
Jewish Encyclopaedia article on Limerick by Joseph Jacobs and Isidore Harris, c-1906.

Other Limerick Jewish Institutions & Organisations*

Bikur Cholim (founded 1889 by Rev. E.B. Levin) to succour poor patients.

Hebrew Young Men's Association (founded 1893)

Limerick Jewish Boarad of Guardians (founded 1901).

Hebrew Burial Society (founded by 1903)

Chovevi Zion (founded by 1915)

* As listed in Jewish Year Books

Limerick Jewish Cemeteries Information

Limerick's small Jewish cemetery, opened in 1902, is situated in the western part of the city in the vicinity of Kilmurry, close to the suburbs of Newcastle and Castletroy (and is variouly described by reference to any of such locations). It is located just to the south of the Dublin Road, almost opposite "The Hurler" public house. The cemetery, which was neglected and fell fell derelict, was restored in 1990 and is now maintained by Limerick Civic Trust and the Limerick City Council as a small public green space. There are 11 graves, nine marked and two reading "Unknown Jewish Soul, buried by Limerick council". The last burial was in 2012 of a Jewish professor at Limerick University. Prior thereto, the latest burial was in 1944 (of the last minister of the Limerick congregation).

Photographs from Limerick Jewish Cemetery.