IRELAND has become a Jewish mission field for a month.
Armed with suitcases of videos, brochures, books, Shabbat candles, mezuzahs (a religious article) and kosher food, Rabbis Yossi Jacobson and Mendy Harlig from New York, have come here in an attempt to encourage their lapsed Irish brethren to return to the faith.
Given the timespan, the harvest is great for the two labourers.
There are about 1,300 Jews in Ireland, mainly in Dublin, and Rabbi Jacobson estimates about 300 others have drifted away. Although they are spread around the Republic, the two intrepid missionaries hope to meet them all.
They do not anticipate any immediate conversions. "Some may have abandoned their faith for, perhaps, justifiable reasons. They have questions that need to be answered. What we can do is ignite a spark which will, hopefully, turn into a flame with learning and influence," says Rabbi Jacobsen.
Next week the missionaries will move out of Dublin to take their work to Cork, Galway, Carlow, Limerick and other centres. Rabbi Jacobson is aware of the anti-Semitism which affected Limerick in the early part of the century, but observes philosophically, "it is in the past, the world grew older and more mature".
Rabbi Jacobson is a writer of Jewish philosophy and Rabbi Harlig is newly ordained. They are part of the Lubavitch summer school project, whereby Jews travel to different locations throughout the world during their summer holidays to reach out "to unaffiliated Jews to help them rediscover their heritage".
In a statement, the Lubavitch news service, which is based in Brooklyn, New York, said the two were chosen for Ireland because of "their rabbinic proficiency and their people skills", and describes their mission as "Judaism in a suitcase".
Irish people generally, Rabbi Jacobson says, are "kind, hospitable, and talkative", but there will be no attempts to convert non-Jews. "Totally out, never", he says.
