This first full-length history of the Jews of Edinburgh chronicles their immigration to Scotland's capital city from Russia during the 1880s in the wake of Tsarist persecution, and examines their reception by native Scots.

Smaller than its Glasgow counterpart, the Jewish community in Edinburgh took on greater national significance in part through the career of "Scotland's Rabbi," Dr. Salis Daiches of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation. The community would also contribute Scotland's first Jewish member of parliament, as well as the first Jewish president of the Scottish Football League.