This morning I got up at 7am. That's not really that unusual, except that on a Sunday I would normally try to sneak back to bed after my breakfast by declaring movie time for my daughter. However today I had to be out of here by 7:45am in order to be at Temple Shearith on Central Park West to sing at an event there. The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, and her husband Martin were there to thank the congregation for an offering of over $170 that they sent to Ireland in 1847 to help victims of the Irish Famine. The Rabbi mentioned that an economist told him last week that in today's numbers we're talking $80,000. In those days the congregation was on Crosby Street and one March morning in 1847 the Rabbi called upon the people to reach into their pockets for the people of Ireland whose suffering, before the famine occurred, had been described by a British commission as the worst in Europe.
After the event I got a ride to St. Patrick's Cathedral in one of the diplomatic vehicles and was present for a very moving ceremony at the cathedral before heading back to the East Village for potato pancakes and some strong Irish tea.
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