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Schwartz Explores His Irish Roots
Calling his experience the “opportunity of a lifetime,” Director of the Osborn Idea & Design Lab Bruce Schwartz applied his grant toward an exploration of his family history in Northern Ireland.
Having grown up hearing stories of his great-grandfather John Ross (who was the Chief Rabbi of Belfast from 1905 to 1914)—and having majored in Political Science/Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs in college—Schwarz set out to both explore his roots and examine the dynamics of Jewish history in Northern Ireland.
He learned that the Polish-born Rabbi Ross/Rosenzweig (b. 1875) was a pioneer in interfaith relations, and the first rabbi of a new “integrated” synagogue at a time when integration was not always easily achieved. Schwartz also learned that, after retiring, his great-grandfather became one of the foremost scholars on the Dead Sea Scrolls! Through the lens of his family history, Schwartz also dove deeper into the history of the Belfast Jewish community during that era, and the economic and political reasons behind its decline today.
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