Edinburgh's Jewish Reform community can trace its history back almost 30 years to the late 70s, when half a dozen families who were members of the Glasgow New Synagogue but residents of Edinburgh began to gather on Fridays in each other's houses. Many of us had young children at that time, and we met, held a short service and shared some food. I don't think we ever discussed, or even considered, the possibility of becoming more than an occasional prayer group.
Eventually, as is almost inevitable with such a small group, simple demographics put an end to our meetings. Some members moved away; there was a tragic accidental death in the community, and the meetings in Edinburgh faded out. Those who remained in Scotland continued as congregants of Glasgow New Synagogue, and their children were bar mitzvah there.
In 1997 Pete Tobias, then rabbi of GNS, encouraged us to try again. Invitations were issued for an Edinburgh Erev Shabbat service, and to everyone's amazement - not least our hosts! - over forty people turned up.
From then on the community grew organically, as it seems in hindsight. We started with monthly Friday evening services, sometimes in conjunction with a family meal to which everyone contributed a dish, and soon occasional Shabbat services followed by lunch and study sessions were added, and an annual seder was established, held in the beautiful 17th century Inch House. Over the past few years we have held regular shiurim for adults; festival services on Sukkot, and Chanukah, Purim parties, and perhaps most importantly we have established our own cheder for the community's children.
All this while we have been functioning as an effective outreach group of Glasgow New Synagogue. Although we had expanded our activities, many important parts of Jewish ritual, such as rabbinical services, life events and High holy Day celebrations have only been available in Glasgow. Some of our community have maintained two full memberships; they attend services in Edinburgh when we hold them but are eligible for pastoral care, burial rights etc. in Glasgow. Most confusingly, their children have attended both cheders!
In his final year as GNS rabbi Pete Tobias suggested we gave ourselves a name, and we became Sukkat Shalom, Edinburgh. Also in the past twelve months we have had two bar mitzvahs, and two births in the community. Perhaps the outcome was inevitable - at our AGM in March we voted overwhelmingly to become autonomous.
The motion which was passed was this:
We are committed to being a fully independent, progressive Jewish community, providing as many Jewish facilities - life cycle events, services and the like - as we possibly can. At this stage we do not know the details or time scales involved, but we are committed to developing these Jewish facilities to the best of our abilities.
I'm sure that all our members are aware of the enormous challenge we have set ourselves, but at the same time there is a great feeling of enthusiasm and optimism about. Our first act after voting ourselves into independence was to agree to purchase out own sefer torah. Almost half the purchase price has already been achieved through fund raising activities.
Anyone who wished to join us, or even just to keep in contact during this great adventure can do so through our website - www.ssedin.org
Lindsay Levy