North Richmond Street

 Jewish History  No Responses »
Dec 182017
 

North Richmond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9STNorth Richmond Place

The first synagogue in Scotland was established in a rented room in Richmond Court in 1817. The community numbered around 20 Jewish families, most of whom had come to Edinburgh from Amsterdam. In 1868, it moved to larger premises near today’s Edinburgh Students’ Union in Teviot Place. In 1898 Edinburgh’s Jews were divided between two outlooks: Graham Street (The Englisher Shul) for the established Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation (EHC), and Richmont Court (the Russisher / Griner Shul) frequented by recent immigrants. Under Rabbi Dr Salis Daiches, who came to Edinburgh in 1919, the communities united and built a synagogue in Salisbury Road. Today, there are three Jewish religious communities in Edinburgh: the orthodox EHC, the Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Congregation, and the Chasidic Lubavitch Community. However, most of the 900 Jews recorded in the most recent Census are unaffiliated.

Entrance to North Richmond Place

Entrance to North Richmond Place.

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6 Millerfield Place: Sciennes Primary School

 Jewish History  No Responses »
Dec 182017
 

6 Millerfield Place, Edinburgh EH9 1LW6 Millerfield Place

6 Millerfield Place was the family home of Edinburgh’s most famous rabbi, Dr Salis Daiches, the father of literary scholar David Daiches. An immigrant himself, during his ministry from 1919 to 1945 he brought together recent arrivals and established residents, and built Salisbury Road Synagogue, which had room for approximately 2,000 worshippers. It remains home to the (now much smaller) Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation. At the end of this cul-de-sac is Sciennes Primary School. Until the founding of Calderwood Lodge Primary School in Glasgow in 1962 there was no Jewish school in Scotland. All Jewish children attended mainstream schools. From 1914 Hebrew classes were taking place in Sciennes School on weekday afternoons, the Education Board of the city offering the facilities of the school to the Jewish community free of charge.

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