Edinburgh Jewish History
Jewish presence in enlightened Edinburgh can be traced back to 1691, the year in which the minutes of Edinburgh Town Council recorded the application of David Brown, a professing Jew, to reside and trade in the city. The first Jew to buy a burial plot in Edinburgh was Herman Lyon. He came to Edinburgh from Germany in 1788 and described himself as a dentist and “corn operator” ie podiatrist and wrote a remarkable book on the subject. In 1795 he petitioned Edinburgh Town Council to purchase a plot of land on Calton Hill for a burial place for himself and his family. It is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1852 as “Jew’s Burial Vault”. The first community was established in 1816; the first cemetery opened in 1820 and the first synagogue in 1825. The present Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation was formed during the ministry of Rabbi Salis Daiches who served between 1918 and 1945, and it was under his influence that the synagogue was built.
In 1825 the community acquired a tenement in Richmond Court in Newington and converted it for use as a synagogue with 67 seats, This served the needs of the community for 43 years.
The community moved to a historic house Ross House in Park Place to accommodate 95 men and 80 women. By the turn of the century the community numbered about 500 and acquired a chapel in Graham street for conversion into a synagogue.
In 1918 Dr. Salis Daiches became minister of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation. During the course of his ministry, which lasted 27 years until his death, he had a profound effect on the Jewish Community. He united the community into a single cohesive unit and acted as spokesman for the Jews in Scotland during the troubled inter-war years.
The beautiful synagogue in Salisbury Road, built in 1932 to accommodate 1000 people, is a tribute to his leadership and vision. This was the first and remains the only purpose built synagogue in the city. Wonderful stained glass windows were later added. The site also houses a mikveh, one of only two in Scotland.
Rabbi Dr. Jacob Weinberg was appointed in 1961. He followed the Daiches tradition of being an ambassador to the non - Jewish world. His erudition was reflected in the adult education classes he ran in the extra-mural department of Edinburgh University, where he taught a generation of Scots the Psalms, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Modern Hebrew, Agnon and Maimonides. During these years the community was fortunate to have the services of three wonderful chazans, Rev. Zucker, Rev. Brysh and Rev. Knopp, who were all members of the same family.
The Scottish Jewish Archives Centre in Glasgow holds a collection of material about Edinburgh Jewry – see their website www.sjac.org.uk or email info@sjac.org.uk