Jewish archive to go public

When Ruti Lachs started doing little bits of research on the history of Cork’s Jewish community, she never expected that eight years later she’d be launching Leeside’s first Jewish archive.

On 12 February, she’ll be doing just that at Cork Public Museum with the help of former lord mayor and indomitable historian, councillor Kieran McCarthy.

The Cork Jewish Digital Archive includes oral histories, essays, poems, stories, and photos from over 50 members of the Cork diaspora and their descendants, as well as Cork locals who fondly remember their Jewish neighbours from years gone by (1880s onwards).

Ruti’s initial research was for a musical play she was making set in Cork’s vibrant Jewish community in the early 1900s. The play was set to be part of the Cork Midsummer Festival when Covid hit in 2020. Unsure of what to do with all of her gathered information, Ruti decided to make a documentary instead and that’s when it all kicked off.

“So, that was 2020,” she recalls.

“When the documentary went live during Heritage Week in that year, just hundreds of people all over the world saw it. I made this kind of virtual guided walk and a lot of people got in touch with me and said, ‘I'm Jewish’, ‘I'm from Cork originally’, ‘my father was the rabbi in Cork’ or ‘my grandfather was a salesman in Cork’. So, we had all these amazing responses and people. I talked to loads of people on the phone and by email and we had Zooms.

“I organised a load of get-togethers for all these scattered Cork Jews all over the world. So many stories were shared with me - memoirs and articles and photos and poems and songs.

“And then I had a lot of stuff,” laughs Ruti.

Wanting to share what she had gathered, Ruti made a second documentary which garnered even more attention and spurred her to dig even deeper into Cork’s Jewish past.

She says: “I think I've interviewed about 50 or 60 people, done oral histories, and I've been sent hundreds of items, you know, whether it's photos, essays, letters.

“I've been to London, to the London Archives, to look at some letters between the Cork community and the Chief Rabbi of England over 100 years ago.

“So, I suppose I just got very passionate about it and wanted to follow up every lead. I feel like I've done a PhD!”

After eight years of deep research and with more gathered information than she was sure what to do with, Ruti decided a digital archive was the most fitting way to preserve and share her work.

“I'm really, really glad it's going to be publicly available. I'm glad I've managed to amass this body of work. Mum and dad would have been proud of me. Even at 61 we think these things,” she laughs.

The Cork Jewish Digital Archive will be officially launched on 12 February at 4pm at the Cork Public Museum. Councillor Kieran McCarthy will do the honours accompanied by guest speakers Liz Kiely of Oral History Network of Ireland, and historian Tom Spalding.