"Of Stars and Shamrocks: Boston's Jews and Irish" historically reveals the origins of Boston's Irish and Jewish communities in the mass exodus from the Potato Famine of the second half of the 19th century and the Eastern European pogroms at the turn of the century. It provocatively documents the bitter rivalries of the 1920s and 1930s and views WW II and the Second Vatican Council as turning points in relations. The work focuses as well on the ecumenical efforts of Richard Cardinal Cushing and Rabbi Israel Kazis to bring the communities together. Interviews with many local academic, political and religious leaders highlight the production, narrated by WGBH's host of "A Celtic Sojourn," Brian O'Donovan.

This 55-minute documentary is the second part of the trilogy "Breaking Barriers," the first being "The Cross and the Star: Jews, Christians and the Holocaust," and the third, currently in production, which deals with medicine, ethics and the Third Reich.