Dublin’s Only Kosher Corned Beef Sandwich Comes with a Side of Community

by Karen Schwartz – chabad.org

Deli 613 is the only place in Ireland where customers can get a kosher corned beef sandwich. A project of Chabad-Lubavitch of Ireland, which moved into a new home two years ago, the deli serves up hot soup, sandwiches, falafel and more to Jewish and non-Jewish customers alike. The deli also caters for hotels, corporate business events and travelers, and its food is available for delivery via services like Uber Eats.

“Lots of people are looking for authentic kosher food—people that have been to London, people that have been to New York—so we want to fill that void,” says Rabbi Zalman Lent, co-director of Chabad of Ireland, alongside his wife, Rifky, who arrived in Dublin in 2000.

He adds that they have a commercial kitchen with professional chefs and also runs the only kosher grocery store on the Emerald Isle. “We were initially going to have a store and then we said, ‘We should make some fresh food for Shabbos,’ and it just grew from there. It ended up that we’re open six days a week,” he says.

Offering what Lent calls an “oasis of calm and positivity,” Chabad of Ireland’s community is a diverse one, made up of descendants of Jews who came to Dublin from Lithuania in the 1890s, as well as a few thousand Israelis who have moved to the area for work. They offer Shabbat and holiday dinners, classes, a Sunday Hebrew school, and an adult and children’s library. Chabad of Ireland’s fresh loaves of traditional challah has won it many fans, and Lent says they are hoping to expand to have a custom bakery area in the months ahead.

A Second Home for Many

For Daniel Koskas, who is from Paris but has lived in Dublin for two-and-a-half years as he pursues his Ph.D. in biomedical robotics, Jewish community is key. So when he was accepted for his doctoral program, one of the first things he did was get in touch with the local Jewish community. And his first stop was Chabad.

Koskas arrived in Dublin a few days before the new Chabad center’s opening, and says he’s there every Friday night, goes to most of the other community activities and buys all of his kosher items there. “It’s almost my second home,” he says. “And especially when you live far from your family, it’s good to have this kind of place. It’s not just a place that allows you to keep Shabbat and keep kosher, but also that gives you Jewish warmth and a family vibe.”

On top of opening the deli, Chabad of Ireland recently purchased property and come September will start renovations for a student center, where. students attending the area’s many universities will feel less isolated, Lent says. “This will be a social space, a safe space where they can be proudly Jewish without feeling stressed.”

Sunday-morning Hebrew school opened last year, and families come from near and far to attend, with kids coming for class and their parents taking the chance to sit and hang out in the deli while the kids are learning Torah. Having such a casual Jewish space has become all the more important with the sharp rise in antisemitism in Irish society.

“You can come into a place where there’s a library and a kosher store, and you put tefillin and have kosher lunch, and you’ll meet your old friend there,” Rifky Lent says. “There are people who tell me they come every week just to be in that space.”

A Stronger Sense of Identity

For Brigitte Frenkel of Dublin, Deli 613 is a place where they can be who they are.

“It really feels like a community center; it’s really nice to have this space to connect and be together,” she says.

Her family have made lots of friends since becoming involved with Chabad, and she’s there every Sunday for coffee and lunch while her kids—ages 6, 7 and 10—are in class.

“If you ask my kids, the best thing is the pita and the chips,” she says, adding that the falafel salad bowl is her favorite item on the menu at the deli. “We really look forward to coming on Sunday mornings.”

Her family has been taking part in Shabbat dinners, High Holidays, Hebrew school and high holidays, she says.

The student center will be a welcome addition, says Frenkel, adding that it stands to help the community keep growing and give even more Jews a way to feel connected. As for her kids, she says, she’s glad for every opportunity they get to experience Jewish pride. “The more we do, the better, because it makes the kids happy with their identity, to be proud to be Jewish,” she says. “It lets you know you’re not alone, and that we’re small here but feel so connected.”

Koskas says he hopes to see the Chabad continue to grow, especially as since the terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he’s seen a surge of people wanting to reconnect to the Jewish community.

“Rabbi Zalman and Rifky, they’re very ambitious, I think that’s something very exciting to see,” he says. “They’re clearly leading with the lessons of the Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory]. They’re not just building a Chabad center just to have one in place. There’s really a soul in the project; we can see it incarnated by them.”