{"id":193880,"date":"2025-12-16T01:31:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T01:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/193880\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T01:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T01:31:08","slug":"granddaughter-of-chaim-herzog-takes-part-in-hanukkah-celebration-in-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/193880\/","title":{"rendered":"Granddaughter of Chaim Herzog takes part in Hanukkah celebration in Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The granddaughter of former Israeli president Chaim Herzog<\/a> and the Minister for Justice, Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a>, were among those who gathered at Dublin\u2019s Herzog Park on Monday evening to celebrate the second night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, and to commemorate the victims of Sunday\u2019s attack in Sydney. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Callaghan described Hanukkah as \u201ca time of great celebration\u201d for the Jewish community but said that, \u201cregrettably, it has been overshadowed by the horrific events that we saw yesterday in Bondi Beach in Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we saw, regrettably, was an anti-Semitic, murderous attack on people simply because they were Jewish,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Two gunmen, identified by police as a father and son, targeted members of Australia\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

A proposal to rename Herzog Park, located in Rathgar in south Dublin, was removed from Dublin City Council<\/a>\u2019s agenda earlier this month over what the council\u2019s chief executive said were procedural issues. The plan received criticism from, among others, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Yitzhak] Herzog was \u2018the Sinn F\u00e9in Rabbi\u2019,\u201d Mr O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cHe 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chaim Herzog served as Israel\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Irish Times view on Herzog Park: this proposal should be rejectedOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He remained involved in Israel\u2019s security establishment through his career before he was elected president.<\/p>\n

\u201cDublin was not just a stop along my grandfather\u2019s journey,\u201d Alexandra Herzog said. \u201cIt was a place that shaped who he became and one that filled him with great pride. <\/p>\n

\u201cIreland 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not going to just be frightened,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are going to stand very proudly and show that our Jewish identity is important. That\u2019s our heritage and we\u2019re not going to disappear and go in hiding. That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Chief Rabbi: Move to erase Chaim Herzog\u2019s name and history is cruel hammer blowOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, told those assembled that Hanukkah is \u201ca story of refusal \u2013 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\u201d. <\/p>\n

He likened that message to the Jewish community\u2019s response to the proposed renaming of the park. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not about ancient battles,\u201d Mr Cohen said. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The granddaughter of former Israeli president Chaim Herzog and the Minister for Justice, Jim O\u2019Callaghan, were among those…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[93863,13288,61,60,18573,43],"class_list":["post-193880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-chaim-herzog","tag-dublin-city-council","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}