Judaica in Scotland, 1817 - Present: Objects of Faith, Migration and Identity

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I am most interested in researching the style, production, and ritual usage of Scottish Judaica in order to uncover the migratory patterns, social interactions, political standing, and, of course, religious observance of Scottish Jews. My studies and research have shown me that material culture, much like art, can speak volumes about human experience during a particular time and place and I have no doubt that Scottish Jewish ritual objects represent the transcultural experience of peripheral Jewish communities of the UK. I am excited to hear that this area of study is being explored with regards to the Jewish experience in the Scottish landscape and would love to be part of the discussion. To do so will require investigating the stylistic choices of Scottish Jewish ceremonial objects both at home and at spaces of worship as well as the cross comparison to non-Jewish religious items and Judaica from other regions in Europe at around the same period. I am keen to uncover what objects can tell us about how Jewish communities networked amongst themselves as well as how they sought to be viewed by the general population; overall religious observance and Jewish population makeup. I expect to see that the development of Scottish Jewish material culture was influenced by the varied life experiences of its owners and creators, and in no way emerged in an isolated manner. I am aware that contextual archival research will be required and welcome the opportunity to explore the libraries and archives of Scotland. Naturally, I am also interested in delving into the Judaica collections at museums across Europe and hope to further the catalyzation of repositories within Scotland. I feel strongly that Jewish objects within the museum space should be recognized as belonging to distinct collections and given the funding and facetime required for their preservation and promulgation. To that end, these materials should be catalogued appropriately with accurate metadata and online databases should be developed to allow for the global study of the materials at hand.