Edinburgh Synagogue

Synagogue at Richmond Court

The Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, the city's first synagogue, was established in 1817 at Richmond Court for a congregation of 20 families. In 1868, the congregation had grown and so they moved the shul to a larger accommodation at Park Place. They moved again in 1898 to Graham Street.[4]

Between 1881 and 1914, immigrants arrived in large numbers to Edinburgh. They brought different religious traditions with them. As a result, other congregations began to form.[4] Some of these Jews migrated from within Britain. In 1879, Hasidic Jews from Manchester who had come to work in the Caledonian Rubber Works on Fountainbridge established a synagogue in the Dalry area on Caledonian Crescent. This synagogue served about 35 families.[5][4] However, a majority of the migrant population came from the Pale of Settlement in Eastern Europe. In 1890, the Eastern European migrants established Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation in Richmond Court. It was eventually moved to Roxburgh Place in 1916.[4]

In 1918, the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation and the Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation unified on paper but continued to worship in separate places given their different practices.[6] Rabbi Dr. Salis Daiches, who arrived the next year, worked to make these communities into a more unified whole.

Under Rabbi Daiches' influence, in October 1926 the community formed a committee with the aim of raising funds to build a new synagogue large enough for the entire community to worship together. In November 1928 the site at 4 Salisbury Road, Newington was purchased, this being near the heart of the principal area of Jewish settlement in Edinburgh. The Roxburgh Place synagogue finally closed in March 1929 and a "Beth Hamedrash" (literally House of Study) opened in an existing house on the site. Construction of the new synagogue eventually cost £20,000. This was a hard campaign given the small community, its waning interest in religious matters, and the difficult economic situation due to the Great Depression. In the end, a bank loan of £6,000 was required in order to complete the project.[7]

Building began on 3 May 1931 when Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted laid the foundation stone.[8] The synagogue took 15 months to complete and was opened on 11 September 1932 by Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz.[9] It was designed by the renowned Glasgow architect James Miller, most noted for his commercial buildings in Glasgow and Scottish railway stations; the synagogue is the only building he designed in Edinburgh. He was asked to make a prestigious building that would contribute to Edinburgh's architecture and provide a focal point for local Jewish life. The purpose-built synagogue could house 1,000 people and also had a mikveh on the premises.[10] Faced in red brick it is built in a simplified Byzantine style with a large central dome suspended from the flat roof by steel hangers which floods the building with light.[11] The Ark containing the Torah scrolls is of French walnut and bears an inscription from the Book of Proverbs: (3:6) "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths".

From the beginning, the synagogue was large for the number of congregants attending. In 1981, Michael Henderson of Dick, Peddie & McKay was hired to reduce the interior. While the mikveh was in disuse by this point, it was retained. Then in 2003, it came back into use when the synagogue was renovated again with the help of a £300,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.[12]

The synagogue was listed in 1996 as a grade B listed building.[8]

William Wilson stained glass window

The synagogue houses six stained windows by the distinguished Scottish stained glass artist William Wilson, RSA. These richly coloured works combine Jewish religious symbols with abstract and floral motifs with one depicting the act of Creation.[13][14]

• Salis Daiches
• Hazel Cosgrove
• Malcolm Rifkind

• History of the Jews in Scotland
• Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

• Official website
• Edinburgh Jewish history
• Edinburgh Synagogue: Jewish Small Communities Network