Two worlds: an Edinburgh Jewish childhood by David Daiches

Two worlds: an Edinburgh Jewish childhood Reviews

• 
  David Campton

  A short and unprepossessing but fascinating insight into the world of Edinburgh Judaism in the inter-war years through the eyes of the second son of the rabbi who not only unified the two orthodox synagogues in the city but also sought to synthesize orthodox Judaism with the western secular philosophy that underpinned so much of progressive Scottish thought and society at the time. It is interesting that the growing shadow of anti-semitism in Europe, and indeed elsewhere in Britain, doesn't feature in any significant way in the peculiar bubble of Edinburgh in that period, and that for the author his father's defence of orthodoxy against liberal Judaism ultimately drove him into agnosticism as his literary sense (he was professor of English at Oxford at the time of writing) brought him to question the literal inspiration of the Hebrew scriptures. I've had this book on my shelf for 25 years and have only gotten round to reading it now. I wish I had read it earlier.
• 
  Darla Ebert

  This was a surprise of a memoir. I enjoyed it even when it bogged down a bit, as when the author began sharing his experiences speaking Scotch-Yiddish and so a lot of examples were given of the squashed together languages. Otherwise I could envision the life and times of a Jewish family in Scotland.
• 
  Jo

  I admit I had very high expectations of this book (I had hoped to learn a bit more about Scots-Yiddish, for instance), but Daiches tells his own - or rather his father's - story with warmth and humour. A good starting point for anyone interested in Scottish Jewry.
• 
  Alexander

  Being a Rabbi who kept being mistakenly referred to as Rabbie is such a specific being jewish in scotland problem.
  The little authentic edinburgh life details in this are what makes it