Peter White is a first generation Irish Jew, born in Dublin in 1941 to Pat (Maurice) and Anne White. The youngest of three children, Peter led a traditional Jewish upbringing in a small community of about 5,000. Both sets of grandparents had fled an anti-semitic Russia in the 1880s, first arriving in Leeds, England in 1895. Pat worked as a tailor and married Anne Wienstein, a London stage actress. The young couple moved to Dublin in 1925 and settled in the Rathdown Park area of Dublin, joining the Adelaide Road Orthodox Synagogue, one of three shuls in Ireland.
Peter attended grammar and secondary school in Dublin and studied economics at Trinity College. He then attended the Sorbonne for a further two years. Upon return to Dublin, Peter joined his father Pat at Dubtex Clothing, the largest manufacturer of menswear in Ireland, employing some 350 workers in two factories.
The Jewish population declined after the establishment of Israel in 1948 as many relocated out of ideological and religious conviction. By the 1960s, the Jewish community in Dublin had continued to shrink as professional opportunities were quite limited. As with other diaspora communities, high rates of assimilation and intermarriage hastened this decline to about 2,500 Irish Jews in 2016.
Despite the small size of the Jewish community in Ireland, the history stands large. Chaim Herzog, the late President of Israel, was raised in Belfast and went to school in Wesley College Dublin. His father was Ireland’s first Chief Rabbi. Robert Briscoe served as Lord Mayor of Dublin (as did his son, Ben) and they both had long service in the Irish Parliament. Robert Briscoe was a close associate of Irish President Eamon de Valera and was very involved in securing arms for the Irish independant cause.
By the early 1970s Irish competitiveness began to suffer, with cheap imports pushing Dubtex into insolvency. Around this time, Peter left the family firm to pursue his own entrepreneurial ambitions–first as a retailer and importer in fashion and later in packaging. In 1992 he opened PD’s Woodhouse, a very successful bistro outside of Dublin.
As he neared retirement In the early 2000s, Peter again got the itch to be active and has been leading private tours of Ireland. In the past several years he has increasingly focused on Jewish Ireland, a unique history which is fascinating to Jews and gentiles. Peter also hosts Irish country wide tours, either as day experiences or multi day programmes.
Peter is the youngest of three and his two sons, daughter and grandchildren live in Ireland. Older brother Barry practiced medicine in the US and passed away in 2016; he is survived by a son and daughter who live in the US. Middle sister Sonia splits her time between Spain, Canada and England where her son, daughter and grandchildren reside.