The granddaughter of former Israeli president Chaim Herzog and the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, were among those who gathered at Dublin’s Herzog Park on Monday evening to celebrate the second night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, and to commemorate the victims of Sunday’s attack in Sydney.
Mr O’Callaghan described Hanukkah as “a time of great celebration” for the Jewish community but said that, “regrettably, it has been overshadowed by the horrific events that we saw yesterday in Bondi Beach in Australia”.
“What we saw, regrettably, was an anti-Semitic, murderous attack on people simply because they were Jewish,” he said.
Two gunmen, identified by police as a father and son, targeted members of Australia’s Jewish community attending a Hanukkah event on the beach. Fifteen people, including a 10-year-old girl and a Holocaust survivor, were killed in the attack.
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A proposal to rename Herzog Park, located in Rathgar in south Dublin, was removed from Dublin City Council’s agenda earlier this month over what the council’s chief executive said were procedural issues. The plan received criticism from, among others, Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
The commemorations and naming committee of Dublin City Council is seeking further legal advice before deciding whether to proceed with the renaming. Chaim Herzog, after whom the park is named, was born in Belfast and spent his childhood in Dublin when his father, Yitzhak Herzog, was chief rabbi of Ireland.
“[Yitzhak] Herzog was ‘the Sinn Féin Rabbi’,” Mr O’Callaghan said. “He played a central role in the struggle for national independence in Ireland, and his son went on to live a very distinguished career subsequently in Israel.
“It is a great honour for me to be here with Dr Alexandra Herzog, his granddaughter. And I suppose it indicates the importance that the Irish Government attaches to this park, and I want to see it continue to be named Herzog Park.”
Chaim Herzog served as Israel’s president from 1983 to 1993. Many arguments for renaming the park are based on his involvement with the pre-independence Jewish paramilitary group Haganah and his work for the Israeli forces during the mass displacement of Palestinians amid the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
[ The Irish Times view on Herzog Park: this proposal should be rejectedOpens in new window ]
He remained involved in Israel’s security establishment through his career before he was elected president.
“Dublin was not just a stop along my grandfather’s journey,” Alexandra Herzog said. “It was a place that shaped who he became and one that filled him with great pride.
“Ireland gave him a sense of belonging, responsibility and purpose. It is where he learned what it means to serve others and to stand with dignity as a Jew in the public square. That legacy feels especially present and especially important right now.”
Dr Herzog travelled to Ireland from Boston for the event. She said Jewish communities around the world are feeling fear, shock and a sense of resilience.
“We are not going to just be frightened,” she said. “We are going to stand very proudly and show that our Jewish identity is important. That’s our heritage and we’re not going to disappear and go in hiding. That’s what I’m doing today.
“It’s very moving to be standing here in Herzog Park and in this neighbourhood that my grandfather really loved very much, and that he spoke about very often.”
[ Chief Rabbi: Move to erase Chaim Herzog’s name and history is cruel hammer blowOpens in new window ]
Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, told those assembled that Hanukkah is “a story of refusal – a refusal to surrender identity, a refusal to accept that power alone decides truth [and] a refusal to erase memory because it is inappropriate to others”.
He likened that message to the Jewish community’s response to the proposed renaming of the park.
“It is not about ancient battles,” Mr Cohen said. “It is about what happens when a minority is told that its history is negotiable, its voice is secondary and its place conditional. That is why this park matters.”
After speeches were made, a ceremony took place in which the shamash and two more candles were lit in recognition of the second night of Hanukkah.
