Being Jewish in Scotland was a small-scale inquiry carried out by SCoJeC, with funding from the Scottish Government, to find out more about the variety of experience of Jewish people in Scotland, and encourage them to identify the issues that are important to them. It has helped us to build a better understanding of what affects the sense of security of Jewish individuals and communities, and, therefore, to establish what matters to the community, and so improve our support for Jewish people in Scotland.
We hope the project has helped to strengthen networks and social capital in the Jewish community; provide support to Jewish people; and assist statutory and voluntary organisations and agencies such as the Scottish Government, Local Councils, NHS, and the police, to support and respond more effectively to the needs and concerns of the community.
We are committed to working inclusively and participatively. Because the Jewish Community is dispersed throughout Scotland, we encouraged
people to contribute by using a variety of techniques: focus groups, one-to-one interviews, and online and hard copy questionaires – or simply writing to us with their views.
We ran a series of events in Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh, Inverness, Dumfrieshire, Jura, Dunoon, Skye, Orkney, and Shetland, which provided Jewish people, many of whom live far from the nearest settled Jewish community, with opportunities to meet and talk about their experiences, and to enjoy klezmer music, discuss the work of Scottish Jewish authors, learn more about the history of the Scottish Jewish community, and watch films of Jewish interest.
Although our main data collection period is over, please feel free to complete and return our survey form, which can be downloaded from the menu above – your views will still inform our work and we'd love to hear from you!
Later this year we will hold events around Scotland with Jewish groups as well as national and regional Scottish organisations and institutions, to help us consider what to do next.
To keep in touch with our activities, join the Four Corners mailing list, or volunteer to help organise an event in your area, please contact Fiona Frank: fiona@scojec.org / 07779 206 522 / 0141 638 6411.
