![Garnethill synagogue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Garnethill_synagogue.jpg)
The history of the Jews in Scotland goes back to at least the 17th century. It is not known when
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
first arrived in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, with the earliest concrete historical references to a Jewish presence in Scotland being from the late 17th century. Most Scottish Jews today are of
Ashkenazi background who mainly settled in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, then in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
in the mid 19th century. In 2013 the Edinburgh Jewish Studies Network curated an online exhibition based on archival holdings and maps in the
National Library of Scotland exploring the influence of the community on the city.
According to the 2011 census, 5,887 Jews lived in Scotland; a decline of 8.7% from the 2001 census.
The total population of Scotland at the time was 5,313,600, making Scottish Jews 0.1% of the population.
Middle Ages to union with England
There is only scant evidence of a Jewish presence in medieval Scotland. In 1180, the Bishop of Glasgow forbade churchmen to "ledge their benefices for money borrowed from Jews". This was around the time of
anti-Jewish riots in England so it is possible that Jews may have arrived in Scotland as refugees, or it may refer to Jews domiciled in England from whom Scots were borrowing money.
In the Middle Ages, much of Scotland's trade was with continental Europe, with wool of the
Borders
A border is a geographical boundary.
Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film
* ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
abbeys being the country's main export to
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
and the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. Scottish merchants from
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
and
Dundee had close trading links to
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
* Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
ports in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
and
Lithuania. It is possible, therefore, that Jews may have come to Scotland to do business with their Scottish counterparts, although no direct evidence of this exists.
The late-18th-century author
Henry Mackenzie
Henry Mackenzie FRSE (August 1745 – 14 January 1831, born and died in Edinburgh) was a Scottish lawyer, novelist and writer sometimes seen as the Addison of the North. While remembered mostly as an author, his main income came from legal rol ...
speculated that the high incidence of biblical place names around the village of
Morningside near Edinburgh might indicate that Jews had settled in the area during the Middle Ages. This belief has, however, been shown to be incorrect, with the names originating instead from the presence of a local farm named "Egypt" mentioned in historical documents from the 16th century and believed to indicate a
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
presence.
17th–19th centuries
![Old Jewish Burial Ground, Sciennes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Old_Jewish_Burial_Ground%2C_Sciennes.jpg)
The first recorded Jew in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
was one David Brown who made a successful application to reside and trade in the city in 1691.
Most Jewish immigration appears to have occurred post-industrialisation, and post-1707, by which time Jews in Scotland were subject to various anti-Jewish laws that applied to Britain as a whole.
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
readmitted Jews to the
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execu ...
in 1656, and would have had influence over whether they could reside north of the border. Scotland was under the jurisdiction of the
Jew Bill, enacted in 1753, but repealed the next year. It has been theorised that some Jews who arrived in Scotland promptly assimilated, with some converting to Christianity.
The first graduate from the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
who was openly known to be Jewish was Levi Myers, in 1787. Unlike their English contemporaries, Scottish students were not required to take a religious oath. In 1795, Herman Lyon, a dentist and
chiropodist
Podiatry () or podiatric medicine () is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and leg.
A Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM), or a podiatrist, is a healthcare ...
, bought a burial plot in Edinburgh. Originally from
Mogendorf,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
he left there around 1764 and spent some time in Holland before arriving in London. He moved to Scotland in 1788. The presence of the plot on
Calton Hill
Calton Hill () is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the cit ...
is no longer obvious today, but it is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1852 as "Jew's Burial vault".
The first
Jewish congregation in Edinburgh was founded in 1817, when the Edinburgh community consisted of 20 families.
The first congregation in Glasgow was founded in 1821, and that of
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
was founded in 1893. The Jewish cemetery in
Dundee indicates that there has been a Jewish congregation in that city since the 19th century. Much of the first influx of Jews to Scotland were Dutch and German merchants attracted to the commercial economies of Scottish cities.
Isaac Cohen, a hatter resident in Glasgow, was admitted a
burgess of the city on 22 September 1812. The first interment in the
Glasgow Necropolis
The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typical for the period, only ...
was that of Joseph Levi, a quill merchant and cholera victim who was buried there on 12 September 1832. This occurred in the year before the formal opening of the burial ground, a part of it having been sold to the Jewish community beforehand for one hundred guineas. Glasgow-born
Asher Asher (1837–1889) was the first Scottish Jew to enter the medical profession. He was the author of ''The Jewish Rite of Circumcision'' (1873).
The story of his own family's experience was immortalised in
Jack Ronder
Jack Ronder was a Scottish dramatist, screenwriter and author who in the 1950s and 1960s was known for his socially acute plays before becoming a TV screenwriter. He is remembered for his work on Terry Nation's seminal BBC post-apocalyptic ser ...
's book & TV series called 'The Lost Tribe', starring
Miriam Margolyes
Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The ...
&
Bill Paterson.
In 1878, Jewish
Hannah de Rothschild
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery (''née'' de Rothschild; 27 July 1851 – 19 November 1890) was the daughter of Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, Baron Mayer de Rothschild and his wife Juliana (''née'' Cohen (surname), Cohen). After inh ...
(1851–1890), the richest woman in Britain at the time, married Scottish aristocrat
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death o ...
, despite strong antisemitic sentiments in court and the aristocracy. They had four children. Their son,
Harry
Harry may refer to:
TV shows
* ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin
* ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons
* ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...
, would become
Secretary of State for Scotland in 1945 during
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
's postwar caretaker government.
To avoid persecution and
pogroms in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
in the 1880s, many Jews settled in the larger cities of Britain, including Scotland, most notably in Glasgow (especially the poorer part of the city, the
Gorbals
The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and employment opportun ...
, alongside Irish and Italian immigrants).
[Pupils at Queen's Park Secondary 1936 (Scottish Jewish Archives Centre)]
The Glasgow Story A smaller community existed in Edinburgh and even smaller groups in Dundee, Aberdeen,
Greenock and
Ayr
Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...
. Russian Jews tended to come from the west of the empire, in particular Lithuania and Poland, many using Scotland as a stopping post en route to North America. This explains why Glasgow was their favoured location. However, those who were not able to earn enough to afford the transatlantic voyage ended up settling in the city. In 1897, after the influx, the Jewish population of Glasgow was 6,500.
This second influx of Jews was notably larger than the first, and came from Eastern Europe as opposed to Western European countries like Germany and the Netherlands. This led to the informal distinction between the ''Westjuden'', who tended to be middle class and assimilated into Scottish society, and the much bigger ''Ostjuden'' community, consisting of poor
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
-speakers who fled pogroms in Eastern Europe.
While the ''Westjuden'' had settled in more affluent areas, such as
Garnethill
Garnethill is a predominantly residential area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland with a number of important public buildings.
Geography
Located in the city centre, the area borders Cowcaddens to its north, Sauchiehall Street to its south, Cambr ...
in Glasgow (where a
synagogue was built in 1879), the ''Ostjuden'' settled in slums in the Gorbals, and by 1901 the Jewish population of Scotland had increased to 9,000.
20th and 21st centuries
![Jewish Soldiers Memorial, Piershill Cemetery, Edinburgh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Jewish_Soldiers_Memorial%2C_Piershill_Cemetery%2C_Edinburgh.JPG)
Immigration continued into the 20th century, with over 9,000 Jews in 1901 and around 12,000 in 1911. Jewish life in the Gorbals in Glasgow initially mirrored that of traditional ''
shtetl
A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...
'' life; however, concerns around this being a contributing factor to a rise in anti-semitism led to the established Jewish community establishing various philanthropic and welfare organisations with the goals of offering assistance to the refugees, including support in assimilating into Scottish society. The passing of the
Aliens Act 1905
The Aliens Act 1905 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Moving Here The Act introduced immigration controls and registration for the first time, and gave the Home Secretary overall responsibility for ma ...
and the onset of World War I led to a substantial decrease in the number of Jewish refugees arriving in Scotland.
Refugees from
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
further augmented the Scottish Jewish community, which has been estimated to have reached over 20,000 in the mid-20th century. By way of comparison, the Jewish population in the United Kingdom peaked at 500,000, but declined to just over half that number by 2008.
![Edinburgh Synagogue, Salisbury Road](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Edinburgh_Synagogue%2C_Salisbury_Road.jpg)
The practising Jewish population continues to fall in Scotland, as many younger Jews either became secular, or intermarried with other faiths. Scottish Jews have also emigrated in large numbers to England, the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for economic reasons, as other Scots have done. According to the 2001 census, 6,448 Jews lived in Scotland, According to the 2011 census, 5,887 Jews lived in Scotland; a decline of 8.7% from 2001.
41% (2,399) of Scottish Jews live in the small area of
East Renfrewshire
East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas ...
, making up 2.65% of the population there. 25% of Scottish Jews live in the East Renfrewshire town of
Newton Mearns
Newton Mearns ( sco, The Mearns; gd, Baile Ùr na Maoirne ) is a suburban town and the largest settlement in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. It lies southwest of Glasgow City Centre on the main road to Ayrshire, above sea level. It has a popu ...
alone. Many Jewish families slowly moved southwards to more prosperous areas, from the neighbouring city of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
over the generations.
[ Glasgow itself has 897 Jews (15% of the Jewish population) living there, whilst Edinburgh has 855 (also 15%). The area with the least Jewish people was the Outer Hebrides, which reported just 3 Jews (0.05%) living there.
In March 2008 a Jewish ]tartan
Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...
was designed by Brian Wilton for Chabad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic grou ...
rabbi Mendel Jacobs of Glasgow and certified by the Scottish Tartans Authority. The tartan's colors are blue, white, silver, red and gold. According to Jacobs: "The blue and white represent the colours of the Scottish and Israeli flag
The flag of Israel ( he, דגל ישראל '; ar, علم إسرائيل ') was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the establishment of the State of Israel. It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizontal b ...
s, with the central gold line representing the gold from the Biblical Tabernacle
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
, the Ark of the Covenant and the many ceremonial vessels ... the silver is from the decorations that adorn the Scroll of Law and the red represents the traditional red Kiddush wine."
Jewish communities in Scotland are represented by the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities
The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) is the democratic representative body of all the Jewish communities of Scotland. The Council was founded in 1999 in response to Scottish devolution, with the principal aim of providing the Jew ...
.
Historic antisemitism
In the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, while Jews in England faced state persecution, culminating in the Edict of Expulsion
The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by King Edward I of England on 18 July 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. Edward advised the sheriffs of all counties he wanted all Jews expelled by no later than All Saints' D ...
of 1290 (some Jews may have moved to Scotland at this time) there was never a corresponding expulsion from Scotland, suggesting either greater religious tolerance or the simple fact that there was no Jewish presence. In his autobiographical, ''Two Worlds: An Edinburgh Jewish Childhood'', the eminent Scottish-Jewish scholar David Daiches
David Daiches (2 September 1912 – 15 July 2005) was a Scottish literary historian and literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote extensively on English literature, Scottish literature and Scottish culture.
Early life
He was born in Sunder ...
wrote that there are grounds for asserting that Scotland is the only European country with no history of state persecution of Jews.
Modern antisemitism
Some elements of the British Union of Fascists formed in 1932 were anti-Jewish and Alexander Raven Thomson, one of its main ideologues, was a Scot. Blackshirt meetings were physically attacked in Edinburgh by communists and " Protestant Action", which believed the group to be an Italian (i.e. Roman Catholic) intrusion. In fact, William Kenefick of Dundee University has claimed that bigotry was diverted away from Jews by anti-Catholicism, particularly in Glasgow where the main ethnic chauvinist agitation was against Irish Catholics. Archibald Maule Ramsay
Archibald is a masculine given name, composed of the Germanic elements '' erchan'' (with an original meaning of "genuine" or "precious") and ''bald'' meaning "bold".
Medieval forms include Old High German and Anglo-Saxon .
Erkanbald, bishop o ...
, a Scottish Unionist MP claimed that World War II was a "Jewish war" and was the only MP in the UK interned under Defence Regulation 18B
Defence Regulation 18B, often referred to as simply 18B, was one of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during and before the Second World War. The complete name for the rule was Regulation 18B of the Defence (General) Regula ...
. In the Gorbals at least, neither Louise Sless nor Woolf Silver recall antisemitic sentiment. (''See also Jews escaping from Nazi Europe to Britain
After Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933 and enacted policies that would culminate in the Holocaust, Jews began to escape German-occupied Europe and the United Kingdom was one of the destinations. Some came on transit visas, which meant that ...
.'') As a result of rising anti-semitism in the United Kingdom by the 1930s, Jewish leadership bodies including the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council adopted a position of trying to prevent drawing attention to the city's Jewish population, such as through the promotion of assimilation. This was in line with the national leadership at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, although the Edinburgh Jewish Representative Council was notably more active and visible in its campaigning for support to be offered to German Jews.
In 2012, the Scottish Jewish Student Chaplaincy and the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities reported a "toxic atmosphere" at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, in which Jewish students were forced to hide their identity.
In September 2013, the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities published the "Being Jewish in Scotland" project, which researched the situation of Jewish people in Scotland through interviews and focus group attended by approximately 180 participants. The report included data from the Community Security Trust
The Community Security Trust (CST) is a British charity whose purpose is to provide safety, security, and advice to the Jewish community in the UK. It provides advice, training, representation and research.
Founding and mission
The Community Sec ...
that, during 2011, there were 10 antisemitic incidents of abusive behaviour, 9 incidents of damage and desecration to Jewish property, and one assault. Some participants described experiences of antisemitism in their workplace, campus and at school.
During the Operation Protective Edge
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge ( he, מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, translit=Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, ),
was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that h ...
, in August 2014, the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities reported a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents. During the first week of August, there were 12 antisemitic incidents – almost as many as in the whole of 2013. A few months later, an irritating chemical was thrown on a member of staff selling Kedem (Israeli cosmetics) products in Glasgow's St Enoch Centre. In 2015, the Scottish government published statistics on abusive behaviour in ''Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland in 2014–15'', covering the Protective Edge period, which noted an increase in the number of charges filed for anti-Jewish acts from 9 in 2014 (2% of those charged with religious offences) to 25 in 2015 (4% of total). Most dealt with "threatening and abusive behavior" and "offensive communications". The penalty imposed on those convicted was typically a fine.
Anti-semitism continues to be a topic of political debate in Scotland. In 2017 the Scottish Government formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) (until January 2013 known as the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research or ITF) is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1998 which ...
’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
"Scots-Yiddish"
''Scots-Yiddish'' is the name given to a Jewish hybrid vernacular between Lowland Scots and Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
, which had a brief currency in the Lowlands
Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland.
Definitions
Upland and lowland are portions of p ...
in the first half of the 20th century. The Scottish literary historian David Daiches
David Daiches (2 September 1912 – 15 July 2005) was a Scottish literary historian and literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote extensively on English literature, Scottish literature and Scottish culture.
Early life
He was born in Sunder ...
describes it in his autobiographical account of his Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
Jewish childhood, ''Two Worlds''.
Daiches explores the social stratification of Edinburgh's Jewish society in the interwar period, noting what is effectively a class divide between two parts of the community, on the one hand a highly educated and well-integrated group who sought a synthesis of Orthodox Rabbinical and modern secular thinking, on the other a Yiddish-speaking group most comfortable maintaining the lifestyle of the Eastern European ghetto. The Yiddish-speaking population grew up in Scotland in the 19th century, but by the late 20th century had mostly switched to using English. The creolisation
Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge. Creolization was first used by linguists to explain how contact languages become creole languages, but now scholars in other social sciences use the term to describe ne ...
of Yiddish with Scots was therefore a phenomenon of the middle part of this period.
The Glaswegian Jewish poet A C Jacobs also refers to his language as Scots-Yiddish. There was even a case of a Jewish immigrant who settled in the Highlands
Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau.
Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to:
Places Albania
* Dukagjin Highlands
Armenia
* Armenian Highlands
Australia
*Sou ...
who spoke no English and was only able to speak Gaelic and Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
.
List of Scottish Jews
* Ronni Ancona
Veronica "Ronni" Jane Ancona (born 4 July 1966)''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' is a British actress, comedian, impressionist and writer best known for '' The Big Impression'', which she co-wrote and starred in an ...
, comedian
* Jenni Calder, writer
* Hazel, Lady Cosgrove first female Court of Session judge
* Ivor Cutler
Ivor Cutler (born Isadore Cutler, 15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions record ...
, musician, teacher and comedian
* Noam Dar
Noam Dar (; born 28 July 1993) is an Israeli-Scottish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, and is a record setting two-time NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion. He also wrestles for Scottish promotion Insane Championship Wrestling (I ...
, professional wrestler
* Sir Monty Finniston, industrialist
* Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...
, ethnically Scottish, but converted to Judaism as an adult
* Hannah Frank
Hannah Frank (23 August 1908 – 18 December 2008) was an artist and sculptor from Glasgow, Scotland. She was known for her art nouveau monochrome drawings until she decided to concentrate on sculpture in 1952.
Background and education
Frank's ...
, artist and sculptor
* Myer Lord Galpern MP, Lord Provost of Glasgow
* Ralph Glasser
Ralph Glasser (3 April 1916 – 6 March 2002) was a Scottish psychologist, economist, advisor to developing countries and author of a highly praised autobiographical trilogy.
Early life
Glasser was born of Jewish parents in Leeds, but when he was ...
, psychologist and economist (born in Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
but grew up in Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
)
* Professor Sir Abraham Goldberg
Sir Abraham Goldberg (7 December 1923 – 1 September 2007) was a British physician who was a Regius Professor of the Practice of Medicine at the University of Glasgow. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and the Universit ...
KB MD DSc FRCP FRSE, leading medical academic
* Muriel Gray
Muriel Janet Gray FRSE (born 30 August 1958) is a Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist. She came to public notice as an interviewer on Channel 4's alternative pop-show ''The Tube'', and then appeared as a regular presenter on BBC radio ...
, author and presenter of ''The Tube''
* Jeremy Isaacs
Sir Jeremy Israel Isaacs (born 28 September 1932) is a Scottish television producer and executive, opera manager, and a recipient of many British Academy Television Awards and International Emmy Awards.
He won the British Film Institute Fellow ...
, broadcaster
* A C Jacobs Poet
* Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...
, Dire Straits co-founder, lead vocalist and lead guitarist
* Kevin Macdonald, director, known for '' Touching the Void''
* Isi Metzstein
Isi Israel Metzstein OBE (7 July 1928 – 10 January 2012) was a German-born architect who worked at Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and taught at the Glasgow School of Art. He became known for his postwar architectural designs working in the European m ...
, architect
* Saul Metzstein
Saul Metzstein (born 30 December 1970) is a Scottish film director. He won the British Academy Scotland New Talent Award for best director in 2002 for '' Late Night Shopping''.
Metzstein is the son of Isi Metzstein, the renowned modernist a ...
, filmmaker
* Neil Primrose, MP and soldier, Jewish mother
* Malcolm Rifkind
Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from ...
, politician
*Hugo Rifkind
Hugo James Rifkind (born 30 March 1977) is a British journalist. A columnist for ''The Times'' since 2005, he began presenting a Saturday morning programme on Times Radio in July 2020. He has been a regular guest on ''The News Quiz'', on BBC Ra ...
, broadcaster
*Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
Albert Edward Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery, 2nd Earl of Midlothian (8 January 1882 – 31 May 1974), styled Lord Dalmeny until 1929, was a British liberal politician who briefly served as Secretary of State for Scotland i ...
, Secretary of State for Scotland, Jewish mother
* Jerry Sadowitz
Jerry Sadowitz (born June 1961) is an American-born Scottish stand-up comedian and magician.
Notorious for his frequently controversial brand of black comedy, Sadowitz has said that audiences going to see a comedian should suspend their beliefs ...
, controversial comedian and conjurer
* Benno Schotz
Benno Schotz (28 August 1891 Arensburg, Livonia, Russian Empire – 11 October 1984 Glasgow, Scotland) was an Estonian-born Scottish sculptor, and one of twentieth century Scotland's leading artists.
Biography
Early life
Schotz was the y ...
, sculptor
* Sara Sheridan, writer
* Manny Shinwell
Emanuel Shinwell, Baron Shinwell, (18 October 1884 – 8 May 1986) was a British politician who served as a government minister under Ramsay MacDonald and Clement Attlee. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) ...
, politician
* J. David Simons, novelist
* Dame Muriel Spark, novelist[Jewish father; mother Anglican but Muriel Spark's son says that she had Jewish parents; converted to Catholicism later in life]
* Harry, Lord Woolf, judge, brought up and educated in Scotland
* Scottie Wilson, artist
See also
* History of the Jews in Ireland
The history of the Jews in Ireland extends back several centuries. Although the Jewish community in Ireland has always been small in numbers (not exceeding 5,500 since at least 1891), it is well established and has generally been well-accept ...
* History of the Jews in Wales
The history of the Jews in Wales begins in the 13th century. However, shortly after the English conquest of Wales, Edward I issued the 1290 Edict of Expulsion expelling the Jews from England. From then until the formal return of the Jews to E ...
* History of the Jews in England
The history of the Jews in England goes back to the reign of William the Conqueror. Although it is likely that there had been some Jewish presence in the Roman period, there is no definitive evidence, and no reason to suppose that there was an ...
The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities
* List of British Jews
List of British Jews is a list of prominent Jews from the United Kingdom and its predecessor states.
Although the first Jews may have arrived on the island of Great Britain with the Romans, it was not until the Norman Conquest of William the C ...
*List of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom
This is a list of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom, including synagogues, yeshivotA yeshiva (Hebrew: ישיבה) is a centre for the study of Torah and the Talmud in Orthodox Judaism. and Hebrew schools. For a list of buildings which w ...
Notes and references
Further reading
Collins Dr. KE, Borowski E, and Granat L – ''Scotland's Jews – A Guide to the History and Community of the Jews in Scotland'' (2008)
* Levy, A – ''The Origins of Scottish Jewry''
* Phillips, Abel – ''A History of the Origins of the First Jewish Community in Scotland: Edinburgh, 1816'' (1979)
* Glasser, R – ''Growing Up in the Gorbals'', Chatto & Windus (1986)
* Shinwell, Manny – ''Conflict Without Malice'' (1955) – autobiography
* Conn, A (editor) – ''Serving Their Country- Wartime Memories of Scottish Jews'' (2002)
* Kaplan, H L – ''Jewish Cemeteries in Scotland'' in Avotaynu, Vol.VII No 4, Winter 1991
* Ronder, Jack – ''The Lost Tribe'', W.H. Allen (1978)
External links
* Jewish Year Book
The ''Jewish Year Book'' is an almanac targeted at the Jewish community in the United Kingdom. It has been published every year since 1896 and is currently published by Vallentine Mitchell in association with ''The Jewish Chronicle'' and is edit ...
(JYB)
*
Jewish Community of Edinburgh - Chabad on Campus
Jewish Encyclopedia on Scotland
Scottish Jewish Archives Centre
Edinburgh Burgh Records, 1691
Curious Edinburgh Jewish History walking tour
Jewish burial ground in the Glasgow Necropolis
Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation
Sukkat Shalom Edinburgh – the Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Community
The Secret Yiddish History of Scotland
{{History of the Jews in Europe
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
Gorbals
Edinburgh
History of Scotland
Social history of Scotland