Edinburgh

Prepared from material originally published by A. Levy.
See A. Levy, 'The Origins of Scottish Jewry', Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society, vol. XIX, pp. 129 - 162, and his The Origins of Glasgow Jewry, 1812 - 1895 [1949].

(For the Community's early history, see "Edingburgh" in Cecil Roth's "The Rise of Provincial Jewry", 1950)

A small Jewish community existed here in the 1830s, and the Statistical Account of Scotland stated that in 1835 there were then 20 families in the city. The community possessed both a synagogue (Richmond Court, off North Richmond Street) and a cemetery (Braid Place, Causeyside).

In 1844 at the time of the Chief Rabbinate election, Edinburgh had 107 Jews and in 1851, of the sixty-seven seats, thirty-one were appropriated, and there were twenty-eight at morning service. It was not until the end of the century that there were any substantial additions to the numbers of the Edinburgh Jewish community. These immigrants, who chiefly resided in the Dalry district of the city, set up their own congregation. They were largely engaged in the waterproof clothing industry. In 1868 the main synagogue was moved to Park Place, and in 1896 it moved again to Graham Street where a chapel was acquired, converted, and consecrated in 1898. Among the ministers of the Congregation was Rev. J. Furst who held the position from 1879 until 1918.

Amongst the institutions of Edinburgh was a Literary Society founded in 1886, among the oldest (if not perhaps even now, the.oldest) of such societies in Great Britain. It met in a room attached to the Synagogue and its first list of members contained many of the then, and future, leaders of the congregation.