Michael Collins hid from Black and Tans among Dublin's Jews

The tale of Michael Collins, a renowned independence hero, hiding among the Dublin congregation is a story that was highlighted after dedicated research.

New evidence of Michael Collins evading the Black and Tans by masquerading as an elderly Jewish man on his way to synagogue, and speaking "gibberish" has been unearthed by genealogist Stuart Rosenblatt. 

Jews were for centuries the second-largest religious group in Ireland. Those who attended the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, then at Adelaide Road Synagogue passed down the tale orally and Rosenblatt first heard of it from the late Julie Lapedus, a participant. He has also heard ‘secondhand’ accounts, including one from the late Sybil Fishman, whose father was also a witness. Had they not sheltered Collins, who knows what would have happened to Irish independence as we know it?