Jews Arrive in Scotland
There were no Jews in Scotland in mediaeval times. From the 1600s, a small number of Jews came to Scotland. By the late 1700s, a tiny group lived in Edinburgh. But the real story of Scotland’s Jewish community began in the early 1800s. The first synagogueJewish communal building where people gather to pray, learn and celebrate. (From Greek – meaning place of gathering). opened in Edinburgh in 1816 and then one in Glasgow about 5 years later.
In the early days, there were only a few hundred Jewish people, mostly arriving from Germany and the Netherlands. Scottish universities welcomed Jewish students as early as the 1700s, even though some famous universities in England would only take students from the Church of England.
The Glasgow Jewish community grew enough to open a bigger synagogueJewish communal building where people gather to pray, learn and celebrate. (From Greek – meaning place of gathering)., first in a converted building in George Street and later to Garnethill in 1879 — the first synagogueJewish communal building where people gather to pray, learn and celebrate. (From Greek – meaning place of gathering). in Scotland built specially for that purpose.
In the 1880s, Jewish refugees – people escaping danger from Tsarist Russia began arriving in Scotland. By 1900, there were about 7,000 Jews in Glasgow and 1,500 in Edinburgh. Many more passed through on their way to the United States, but some stayed.
They often lived in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, in central Edinburgh and smaller communities appeared in Dundee and Aberdeen. These areas soon had synagogues and kosher‘Suitable’ or ‘fit’ according to Jewish law, often used to describe permitted foods. food shops. The community also set up a range of Jewish charities to care for the sick and poor, as well as to provide a Jewish education for children outside of normal school hours. Many immigrant Jews worked as tailors, furniture makers, or in tobacco factories, while others sold goods as travelling peddlers, setting up small Jewish communities in towns like Dunfermline, Falkirk, Inverness, Greenock and Ayr.
Scotland’s Jews were actively involved in the ZionistSomeone who believes in Zionism. movement, both politically and financially. From the 1890s onwards, they formed support groups, women’s organisations, youth groups and political lobbying groups to support the developments leading to the creation of the State of Israel.
The children of the immigrants, at first mainly the sons, started going to universities – often studying medicine and law, creating a new generation of professionals. At the same time many of the Jewish-owned businesses began to thrive.
This page from the Jewish Chronicle (newspaper) 1911 shows some leaders in the Scottish Jewish Community including:
Michael Simons – a fruit merchant, Justice of the Peace and the first Jewish town councillor. Joseph Fox – ran the Rodmure School of Dresscutting. David Heilbron – a wine and spirit merchant. Eleazer Phillips (born in Australia) – minister to the Glasgow HebrewThe language of the Jewish people and of Israel. Hebrew is also used more generally to mean the culture of the Jewish people (ie. Hebrew calendar). Congregation 1878-1928. Reverend Isaac Levine – (born in London) assistant minister for the Glasgow HebrewThe language of the Jewish people and of Israel. Hebrew is also used more generally to mean the culture of the Jewish people (ie. Hebrew calendar). Congregation. Julius Pinto (born in Amsterdam) – tailor. Emmanuel Isaacs – was known as the Father of Gorbals Jewry. Established the South Portland Street Synagogue.
Around 1,200 Glasgow Jews enlisted to fight in the British army during the First World War, of whom 86 were killed.
The number of Jews attending Scottish universities increased after the First World War. The Glasgow University Jewish Society was founded in 1912.
