Northern Ireland is an increasingly multicultural society today, but as a country so strongly associated with Christian denominational conflict, the existence of non-Christian groups has, until recently, been largely neglected by Irish and British historians. Citizens and visitors alike may therefore be unaware that Northern Ireland has a rich Jewish heritage.
You may recognise some of these famous Jewish names with Belfast connections: Sir Otto Jaffe (elected Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1894 and again in 1904); Chaim Herzog (former president of Israel); Helen Lewis (dancer and choreographer); Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (of Harland and Wolff); Isaac, Maurice and Harry Adlestone (Beaverbrooks Jewellers); Harold Goldblatt (a founder of the Ulster Group Theatre); and Judith and Ray Rosenfield (journalists/writers/arts critics).
The Jewish community in Northern Ireland began to form in the mid 19th century through German linen merchants who had made the province their home. The first synagogue in Northern Ireland was established by Daniel Jaffe in Great Victoria Street. The congregation later relocated to North Belfast, the heartland of the Belfast Jewish community at the time. Smaller congregations also existed in Derry and Lurgan.