List of Scottish Jews

This is a list of Scottish people of some Jewish background, or Jewish people with a Scottish background or connection:

Academic figures and scientists

* Charlotte Auerbach, geneticist (JYB 1977 p207)
* Sarah Cassidy, sociologist
* David Daiches, writer and literary critic, and father of Jenni Calder
* Jack David Dunitz, chemist
* Alfred Edersheim, Bible scholar
* Professor Sir Abraham Goldberg, Emeritus Regius Professor of the Practice of Medicine, University of Glasgow
* Philip Hobsbaum, academic and literary critic at Glasgow University and an influence on many Scottish writers as diverse as Aonghas MacNeacail and Jeff Torrington
* Peter Kravitz, editor of the compilation, "Contemporary Scottish Fiction", and literary critic
* Stefan Reif
* J. M. Robson geneticist and physicist, lived and worked in Edinburgh
* George Sassoon scientist, electronic engineer, linguist, translator and author, buried on Mull, where he spent much of his childhood.
* Leonard Schapiro [cite book |last=|first=|title= "born in Glasgow of an anglophile [sic] Riga Jewish family"|year= |publisher=Concise Dictionary of National Biography ] historian
* Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, contemporary Torah scholar and author

Arts, literature and music

* Jenni Calder, literary figure and daughter of David Daiches
* Muriel Gray [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst1146.html] , Author, 'The Tube' presenter.
* Jeremy Isaacs, broadcaster
* Knopfler Brothers (Dire Straits), rock musicians, Glasgow born, but raised in Newcastle
** David Knopfler, guitarist
** Mark Knopfler, guitarist and vocalist
* Hannah Frank, sculptor (studied under Benno Schotz below)
* Macdonald brothers, grandsons of the Hungarian-born English filmmaker Emeric Pressburger
** Kevin MacDonald (director), "Touching the Void"
** Andrew MacDonald, "Trainspotting" etc
* Andrea McLean, GMTV Presenter (ethnically Russian-Jewish family who converted to Christianity)
* Rebecca Pidgeon, actress, singer and songwriter, grew up in Edinburgh. [http://www.filmreference.com/film/34/Rebecca-Pidgeon.html]
* Benno Schotz, sculptor
* Shulman brothers, mostly known for Gentle Giant (Ray Shulman does not have a Scottish background himself)
** Derek Shulman
** Phil Shulman
* J. David Simons, novelist. Author of The Credit Draper
* Muriel Spark, novelist (Jewish father; mother Anglican but Muriel Spark's son says that she had Jewish parents; converted to Catholicism later in life)
* Cecil Philip Taylor, playwright, born in Glasgow.
* Eric Woolfson, ead singer, songwriter and lyricist, executive producer, pianist, and co-founder of The Alan Parsons Project.
* Paul Goodman, writer
* Alan Brody, Marching Snare

Business and the professions

* Asher Asher, the first Scottish Jew to enter the medical profession and author of the book "The Jewish Rite of Circumcision" (1873).
* Hazel Cosgrove, Lady Cosgrove [cite web |publisher=culham.ac.uk|title=Feature article|url=http://www.culham.ac.uk/tvr/Feature/f980917_rh.html] first female Court of Session judge
* Sir Monty Finniston, industrialist
* Stefan King, Nightclub owner and developer. [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=2307715]
* Bernard Mendik, Glaswegian born New York property developer. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3D6123CF933A05756C0A9679C8B63]
* Ivor Tiefenbrun MBE the founder and Chairman of Linn Products Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland-based manufacturers of Hi-fi and home entertainment equipment.
* Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, judge, brought up and educated in Scotland

Political figures

* Rodney Berman, Liberal Democrat
* Myer Galpern, Lord Provost of Glasgow; MP
* Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery, son of Hannah Primrose, and Secretary of State for Scotland in 1945
* Malcolm Rifkind, politician
* Manny Shinwell, politician

Philanthropists

* Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery, Rothschild, and philanthropist

Religious and communal leaders

* Cyril Harris, Chief Rabbi of South Africa
* Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman
* Rabbi Yaakov Benzion Mendelson
* Rabbi Louis Isaac Rabinowitz
* Rabbi Naftoli Shapiro

Showbusiness

* Ronni Ancona (Sephardi), comedienne ("Jewish Chronicle", 28/09/2005, "Diary" p.66, "Could there a hint of racial stereotyping in the Almeida's decision to cast two Jewish actors — Ronni Ancona and Henry Goodman — in its upcoming production of The Hypochondriac?")
* Ivor Cutler, musician, teacher and comedian
* Muriel Gray [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst1146.html] , Author, 'The Tube' presenter.
* Jerry Sadowitz, controversial comedian and conjurer
* Arnold Brown (comedian)

Sports

* Dougie Freedman, footballer
* Gary Jacobs, boxer

Miscellaneous

* David Brown (Scottish Jew), first recorded Jew in Edinburgh
* Oscar Slater, victim of miscarriage of justice cleared by Arthur Conan Doyle

People of Scottish-Jewish/Jews of Scottish extraction

* Alicia Silverstone, American actress, Scottish born Jewish parents (mother a convert).
* Isla Fisher, Born to Scottish parents converted to Judaism upon marriage.
* Lord George Gordon, Anglo-Scot who converted.
* Robert Downey, Jr.
* Jack Black
* J.D. Salinger
* Simon Cowell
* Oscar Hammerstein II
* Country Joe McDonald
* David Duchovny

References

See also

* History of the Jews in Scotland