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History of the Jews in Scotland


The history of the Jews in Scotland goes back to at least the 17th century. The earliest date at which Jews arrived in Scotland is not known. The earliest concrete historical references to Jews in Scotland are from the late 17th century.[3] The vast majority of Scottish Jews today are Ashkenazi who mainly settled in Edinburgh, then in Glasgow in the mid 19th century. Most histories of Jews in Scotland deal with the subject from an English perspective, thus tending to marginalise any distinctly Scottish dimension.

Scottish Jews
Iùdhaich na h-Alba
יהודים סקוטיים
Total population
5,887 (according to 2011 census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
East Renfrewshire,[2] Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee
Scottish English, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Hebrew, Yiddish

Middle Ages to union with EnglandEdit

Evidence of Jews in medieval Scotland is scant. In 1180, the Bishop of Glasgow forbade churchmen to "ledge their benefices for money borrowed from Jews".[4] This was around the time of anti-Jewish riots in England so it is possible that Jews may have arrived in Scotland as refugees, or it may refer to Jews domiciled in England from whom Scots were borrowing money. While Jews in England during the Middle Ages faced state persecution, culminating in the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 (some Jews may have fled to Scotland at this time[5]) there was never a corresponding expulsion from Scotland, suggesting either greater religious tolerance or the simple fact that there was no Jewish presence. In his autobiographical Two Worlds: An Edinburgh Jewish Childhood the eminent Scottish-Jewish scholar David Daiches wrote that there are grounds for asserting that Scotland is the only European country with no history of the state persecution of Jews.








The old Jewish burial ground in Edinburgh dates from 1813

The first Jewish congregation in Edinburgh was founded in 1817, and the first in Glasgow in 1821. That of Aberdeen was founded in 1893. The Jewish cemetery in Dundee indicates that there has been a Jewish congregation in that city since the 19th century.



In order to avoid persecution and pogroms in the Russian Empire, in the 1880s many Jews settled in the larger cities of Britain, including Scotland, most notably in Glasgow (especially the poorer part of the city, the Gorbals, alongside Irish and Italian immigrants). A smaller community existed in Edinburgh and even smaller groups in Dundee, Aberdeen, Greenock and Ayr. Russian Jews tended to come from the west of the empire, in particular Lithuania and Poland, hoping to use Scotland as a stopping post en route to North America. This explains why Glasgow was their favoured location, although those who could not earn enough to afford the transatlantic voyage ended up settling in the city.[10] In 1897, after the influx, the Jewish population of Glasgow was 4,000.[11]

20th and 21st centuriesEdit

Memorial to Edinburgh's Jews who died fighting in the world wars

Immigration continued into the 20th century, with over 9,000 Jews in 1901 and around 12,000 in 1911. Refugees from Nazism and the Second World War further augmented the Scottish Jewish community, which has been estimated to have reached over 20,000 in the mid-20th century. It is important to remember that the Jewish population in the United Kingdom peaked at 500,000 but has declined to just over half that number today.[12]

Some elements of the British Union of Fascists were anti-Jewish and Alexander Raven Thomson, one of its main ideologues, was a Scot. Blackshirt meetings were physically attacked in Edinburgh by communists and "Protestant Action", which believed the group to be an Italian (i.e. Roman Catholic) intrusion.[13] In fact, William Kenefick of Dundee University has claimed that bigotry was diverted away from Jews by anti-Catholicism, particularly in Glasgow where the main ethnic chauvinist agitation was against Irish Catholics.[14] Archibald Maule Ramsay, a Scottish Unionist MP claimed that World War II was a "Jewish war" and was the only MP in the UK interned under Defence Regulation 18B. In the Gorbals at least, neither Louise Sless nor Woolf Silver recall anti-Semitic sentiment.[15] See also Jews escaping from Nazi Europe to Britain.

The Edinburgh Synagogue in the Newington district of the city

The practising Jewish population continues to fall in Scotland, as many younger Jews either become secular, or intermarry with other faiths. Scottish Jews have also emigrated in large numbers to England, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for economic reasons, as other Scots have done.According to the 2001 census, 6,448 Jews live in Scotland,[16] According to the 2011 census, 5,887 Jews lived in Scotland; a decline of 8.7% from 2001.[1][17] Most live in Glasgow (4,249), with smaller populations in Edinburgh (about 934) and Dundee.[17] Scotland's Jewish population continues to be predominantly urban. Approximately 25% of Scotland's Jewish population reside in the Glasgow suburb of Newton Mearns.[2]

In March 2008 a Jewish tartan was designed by Brian Wilton[18] for Chabad rabbi Mendel Jacobs of Glasgow and certified by the Scottish Tartans Authority.[19] The tartan's colors are blue, white, silver, red and gold. According to Jacobs: "The blue and white represent the colours of the Scottish and Israeli flags, with the central gold line representing the gold from the Biblical Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the many ceremonial vessels ... the silver is from the decorations that adorn the Scroll of Law and the red represents the traditional red Kiddush wine."[20]



In 2012, the Scottish Jewish Student Chaplaincy and the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities reported a "toxic atmosphere" at the University of Edinburgh, in which they are forced to hide their identity.[21]

In September 2013, The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities published the "Being Jewish in Scotland" project. This researched the situation of Jewish people in Scotland through interviews and focus group attended by approximately 180 participants. The report included data from the Community Security Trust that, during 2011, there were 10 antisemitic incidents of abusive behavior, 9 incidents of damage and desecration to Jewish property, and one assault. Some participants described experiences of antisemitism in their workplace, campus and at school.[22]

During Operation Protective Edge, August 2014, the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities reported a sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents. During the first week of August, there were 12 antisemitic incidents - almost as many as in the whole of 2013.[23] A few months later, an irritating chemical was thrown on a member of staff selling Kedem (Israeli cosmetics) products in Glasgow's St Enoch Centre.[24] In 2015, the Scottish government released the statistics on Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland for financial year 2014-15, covering the Protective Edge period, which included an increase in the number of charges filed for anti-Jewish acts from 9 the previous year to 25. Most dealt with "threatening and abusive behavior" and "offensive communications".[25]




The Glaswegian Jewish poet A. C. Jacobs also refers to his language as Scots-Yiddish.[27] There was even a case of a Jewish immigrant who settled in the Highlands who spoke no English and was only able to speak Gaelic and Yiddish.[28]

List of Scottish JewsEdit

See alsoEdit


  1. ^ a b "Scotland's Census 2011 – Table KS209SCb" (PDF). Retrieved 26 September 2013.,
  8. ^ a b "Edinburgh Jewish History". Edinburgh Jewish Community. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  17. ^ a b "Census 2011".
  18. ^ "Jewish Tartan". Scottish Tartans Authority. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  25. ^ Davidson, Neil. "Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland in 2014-15" (PDF). Justice Analytical Services – The Scottish Government. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  28. ^ "Scotland's Century" (RealPlayer). BBC Radio Scotland. 1999.
  30. ^ "Feature article". Culham College Institiute. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007.

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit