Edinburgh Community

Edinburgh is the capital and second largest city in Scotland. It is situated on the east coast of Scotland's central lowlands on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. Since 1996, the City of Edinburgh, including surrounding villages, has constituted a self-contained unitary local authority, with a population of about 450,000, and from 1975 to 1996 it formed a district of the now defunct Lothian Region. Prior to 1975, Edinburgh was in the traditional county of Midlothian. Although Leith, the port of Edinburgh, had historically been a separate burgh, it has been administered as part of Edinburgh since 1920.

Edinburgh is where the first professing Jew settled in Scotland, a David Brown in 1691, and where a small Jewish community grew up. The first synagogue and cemetery were opened in 1816. The following congregations are, or were, considered to be part of the Edinburgh Community:

Dalry Road Synagogue (closed)
Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation (active)
Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation (closed)
Gurhrie Street Congregation (closed)
Leigh Central Hebrew Congregation (closed)
Roxburgh Place Beth Hamedrash (closed)
South Clerk Street Synagogue (closed)
Sukkat Shalom, Edinburgh - Edinburgh Liberal Community Synagogue (active)

The following are former or alternative names of the above congregations:

Beth Hamedrash - see Roxburgh Place Beth Hamedrash
"Blecheneh Shul" - see Dalry Road Synagogue
"Bolshie Shul" - see South Clerk Street Synagogue
Caledonian Crescent Congregation - see Dalry Road Synagogue
Edinburgh Liberal Community Synagogue - see Sukkat Shalom, Edinburgh - Edinburgh Liberal Community Synagogue
Edinburgh Reform Hebrew Community (until March 2004)- now Sukkat Shalom, Edinburgh - Edinburgh Liberal Community Synagogue
"Englisher Shul" - see Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
Graham Street Synagogue - see Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
"Greener Shul" - see Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation
Nicholson Street Synagogue - see Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
Park Place Synagogue - see Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
Richmond Street Synagogue - see Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation
Richmond Court Congregations - see Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
Ross House Synagogue - see Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation
Salisbury Road Synagogue - see Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation

Articles on the Edinburgh Community

The Rise of Provincial Jewry - Edinburgh by Cecil Roth, 1950. Available on JCR-UK as part of the Susser Archive.

Jewish Encyclopedia article on Edinburgh by Joseph Jacobs and Isadore Harris, c-1906

Photographs and text on the Sciennes House Place (formerly Braid Place) Cemetery, the first Jewish cemetery in Scotland.

Jewish Population Data

1691
1780
1816
1896
1909
1934
1945
1954
1961
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
2004

20 families
250 families
250 families
2,000
1,500
1,400
1,700
1,100
980
700
600
500
763

First record of Jewish residents
First organized Jewish community (no records)
Organization of current Jewish Community (Hebrew Congregation web site)
(The Jewish Year Book 1896-7)
(The Jewish Year Book 1910)
(The Jewish Year Book 1935)
(The Jewish Year Book 1945-6)
(The Jewish Year Book 1955)
(The Jewish Year Book 1962)
(The Jewish Year Book 1971)
(The Jewish Year Book 1976)
(The Jewish Year Book 1981)
(The Jewish Year Book 1986)
(The Jewish Year Book 1991)
(The Jewish Year Book 2005)

Other Edinburgh Information

Jewish Property and Heritage & Places of Local Interest

Bibliography, Local Research Libraries and other sources

Edinburgh Cemetery Information