EDINBURGH

EDINBURGH, capital of scotland . No trace of Jews is to be found in medieval Scotland generally. Apart from individual Jews, a community possibly existed in Edinburgh at the close of the 18th century, but the present congregation was established in 1816 with 20 families. The first minister was Moses Joel of London, who served in the office for 46 years. With the influx of Russian and Polish Jews at the close of the 19th century, the community grew and many communal institutions were founded. For many years Salis daiches was the rabbi. In 1968 the community numbered approximately 1,100 out of a total population of 468,770. There was one synagogue and extensive communal and Zionist activity. In the mid-1990s the Jewish population numbered approximately 500. According to the 2001 British census, 763 Jews lived in Edinburgh. There is an Orthodox synagogue. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daiches, in: Publications of the Scottish Church History Society (1929); C. Roth, Rise of Provincial Jewry (1950), 57–59; Levy, in: JHSET, 19 (1960), 129–62. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: K.E. Collins, Scotland's Jews: A Guide to the History and Community of the Jews in Scotland (1999); JYB, 2004. (Cecil Roth)