Waterford Institute of Tecnology

Feb. 1-28

I am very proud that my great-grandparents will be featured.…

There's going to be two San Francisco screenings of "Shalom Ireland," a documentary film about Ireland's remarkable, yet little known Jewish community.

During the Beth Israel Judea screening, we will show a short sneak preview clip from "The Long Ride," a soon-to-be released documentary about the Immigrant Workers…

With the approach of the 1916 Irish Easter Rising Centennial, there’s been renewed interest in "Shalom Ireland," a documentary film I made about Ireland’s remarkable, yet little known, Jewish community (www.ShalomIreland.com).  So I picked up my copy of "For the Life of Me," the…

Israeli citizens are poised to go to the polls March 17th to vote in an election that will determine who will be the next Prime Minister.  According to yesterday's New York Times front page story headlined,…

What draws me back to Ireland over and over again?  There’s the stunning physical beauty.  But what makes a beautiful place so special?  For me, it’s the people: their intellect, passion, warmth and wit.  There’s no better place to find this than in an Irish pub and in the…

Last Thursday, Israel’s Labor Party elected a new leader.  Isaac Herzog replaces Shelly Yacimovich as the party’s Chairman.

Herzog immediately called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to move the peace process with the Palestinians forward.  In his victory speech, Herzog vowed to refocus the party’s agenda on diplomacy.  He said the Labor Party would offer a…

Men at Lunch, a documentary film touring the United States, is intriguing for many reasons. The film, which debuted at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, seeks answers to the mystery surrounding an iconic American photograph. Why Connemara-based Sónta Films tackled what seems a…

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I just saw a great film about "The Greatest," another person of Irish descent, titled The Trials of Muhammad Ali.  The documentary doesn't delve into Ali's Irish roots.  It focuses mainly on his conversion to Islam and his resistance to the draft during the Vietnam War.  It's a fascinating story, and the film…

During our chat yesterday, Jennifer Willis asked how many Jews are living in Ireland today.  As I mentioned, my numbers were a little dated. The 2002 Irish Census found that there were 1,790 Jewish people living in Ireland then. After our chat, I went to look up the 2011/12 census, I learned that there was no box for Jewish people to check off.  Instead, they had to check "Other" and write in their religion.

The form is found here:…

The other night, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival screened the documentary film Amy Winehouse: The Day She Came to Dingle.  Not being very familiar with Winehouse's music, I was drawn more by the setting of the film -- since Dingle is one of my favorite places in Ireland -- than the musician. However, after reading some write-ups , I…