Scottish Jewish Archives Centre

Garnethill Hebrew Congregation and the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre were delighted to welcome visitors from New York. The great grandsons of the late Rev. Dr IK Cosgrove, minister of Garnethill Hebrew Congregation 1935-1973, and his wife Dorothy, enjoyed a tour of Garnethill Synagogue, the Archives Centre, the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre and the Scottish Holocaust-era Study Centre, led by Archives Centre director Harvey Kaplan, who also showed them photographs from the Archives collections, illustrating their great grandparents' career at Garnethill, including their interfaith work.

This week, our director, Harvey Kaplan, welcomed 2 Glasgow University Museums Studies students on a work placement with the Citizens Theatre who spent several hours looking at our Gorbals information and Glasgow Jewish Institute Players folders. He also welcomed the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Scotland, who was interested in finding out the information we hold about Czech refugees in Scotland.

It was a pleasure to welcome Lady Linda Reich as the guest speaker at our February bagel brunch event. She entertained us with a captivating review of her varied career working in the world of
professional theatre, visual arts and opera before moving on to financial consultancy and Scottish Government tribunals.

Pictured L to R: Harvey Kaplan, Director of SJAC; Deborah Haase, Hon Curator of SJAC; Jane Tobias, Chair of SJAC's Fundraising Committee; Lady Linda Reich.

We've had visits from Glasgow University Medical Sudents and a Beaver Scout Group from Erskine in the past fortnight. They came to learn about Judaism and Jewish practices in the setting of the beautiful Garnethill Synagogue.

Many Waters brings together artworks by Jewish students and graduates in Glasgow, reflecting on what it means to be Jewish, here and now.

Inspired by visits to the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre (www.sjac.org.uk ) at Garnethill Synagogue, the works explore themes of history, migration, home, family, and community. The exhibition takes its name from the Song of Songs verse, “Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers wash it away.” This idea of love and resilience runs throughout the exhibition, reflecting both past and present experiences of Jewish life.

Many Waters is a celebration of Jewish creativity in Glasgow and a hopeful expression of community in challenging times.

At an event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in Edinburgh the SJAC was represented by our Director, Harvey Kaplan, and our Honorary Curator, Deborah Haase, on a discussion panel. Also participating were: Elise Bath (Wiener Holocaust Library in London, International Tracing Services Programme Manager); Professor Hannah Holtschneider (Professor of Contemporary Jewish Cultural History, University of Edinburgh); Dr Christine Schmidt (Wiener Holocaust Library in London, Acting Co-Director); Professor Dan Stone (Director of the Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway University). The discussion focused on how their institutions work with descendants of Holocaust victims and survivors to help them learn about and understand their relatives’ experiences and also considered current challenges for Holocaust remembrance. There was also the chance to view the exhibition “Fate Unknown”, which explores the little-known history of the search for the missing in the years immediately after the war.

A new Jewish records summary has been uploaded to Your Scottish Archives portal as part of their Knowledge Base.

You can access it here:

Jewish Communities in Scotland - Your Scottish Archives Jewish people have lived in Scotland for the past 200 years. The first Jewish communities in Scotland were founded in Edinburgh c.1817 and Glasgow c.1821, followed by Dundee c.1878 and Aberdeen in 1893. Small communities emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – in Inverness and Greenock...

At the end of 2025 we were delighted with the completion of the refurbishment of our displays room and shop, thanks to a very generous legacy and the generosity of other donors and funders.

A recent visitor to the Archives Centre was Stephanie Souroujon, a Mexican-born London-resident independent art historian, currently working on a book about Jewish ritual silver in British synagogues. She has a grant from the Silver Society to visit collections outside of London.

She came up specially to visit SJAC and was impressed by our new display. She came equipped with gloves, a loupe and a book of hall marks and looked at both the silver in our collections and the Garnethill Hebrew Congregation's silver.

Some of her comments:
- 1 set of Garnethill rimonim is unusual as it has a Glasgow hallmark and dates from 1883.
- The tennis trophy in a display case is really unusual, with its tennis image, but she says the hallmark indicates it's older than the date inscribed - she thinks it was a generic trophy which was later repurposed which she says is quite common.

Harvey Kaplan also showed her digital photos of silver from Aberdeen, Ayr and Newton Mearns.

We are delighted to be kicking off 2026 with another of our hugely successful Bagel Brunch and Speaker events. The event will take place on Sunday 22nd February at 12noon (doors open at 11.30am) - venue to be advised. The speaker will be Lady Linda Reich and her talk is entitled “How not to make a drama out of a changing career”

Linda grew up in Newton Mearns, working in the world of professional theatre, visual arts and opera before entering the rather different world of financial consultancy and Scottish Government tribunals. She will tell us about her fascinating experiences from the USSR to the USA, from Inner Mongolia to the Winter Olympics, and from Kindertransport connections to meeting the King. Linda is a great granddaughter of the Rev Isaac Levine, reader at Garnethill Synagogue from 1875-1921.

Booking is essential. You can book by clicking on this link
https://www.trybooking.com/uk/FQYF
You may also purchase a Friend's membership at this site. Don't forget - Friends of SJAC get a discount a bagel brunch is included in the ticket price!

A small delegation of first-year students from the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow paid a visit to Garnethill Synagogue and The Scottish Jewish Archives Centre last week, concluding their module on The Search for Meaning - an Introduction to Monotheism. It was a pleasure to welcome them along with their lecturer Sara Nerberg.