St. Patrick’s Day was Dad’s birthday.
As long as I remember, our family has had fun with the coincidence of these two auspicious days, as we subtly mutate into Irish Jews, mostly at Dad’s expense.
We have given him presents like shamrock cufflinks and shamrock ties, green shirts and sweaters and endless dinners of corned beef and cabbage.
Dad, bless his heart, pretended like he liked it, and used to proudly point out that three times in recent history a Jew held the post of Lord Mayor of Dublin.
I hadn’t thought to look it up until today, but it’s all true, and the first Lord Mayor in question was The Honorable Bobbie Briscoe (photo above), a Sinn-Fein man elected for a one-year term in 1956 and again in 1961. His son Ben also served as Lord Mayor.
After hearing that there was a Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin, Yogi Berra allegedly said “Only in America!”
I say: Happy Birthday, Daddy!
1 comment:
You failed to mention the year his birthday (and St. Patrick's Day) fell on Purim, so we made him a giant green Hamentashen in lieu of a birthday cake. And, BTW, we went out for his favorite food: Spaghetti -- now THAT's Only In America!
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