REFUGEES: We Irish Jews

From ancient Scythia, by way of Egypt,Crete and Spain, came the persecuted, wandering children of Gaodhal Glas in search of the Isle of Destiny. "I pray," sang their Gaelic bard Amergin, "that they reach the land of Eirinn, those who are riding upon the great, productive vast sea; that they be distributed upon her plains, her mountains and her valleys."

So, says the legend, came the Gaels to Ireland, long, long ago. Last week another set of persecuted wanderers was finding sanctuary by the Irish Sea. Some of them vaguely remembered luxurious homes in Vienna, Berlin or Warsaw. Some...