19 Facts About Salis Daiches

Salis Daiches served as rabbi of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation from 1919 to 1945.

Salis Daiches was born Bezalel Daiches in 1880 near Vilna, Lithuania in the Russian Empire to Rabbi Israel Hayyim Daiches and Bella Bielitzki as one of ten children.

Salis Daiches then enrolled in the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin where he learned about modern Orthodoxy and the ideology of Torah u'maddah.

Salis Daiches briefly stood in for another rabbi for a year in Hammersmith.

Salis Daiches took part in the Conferences of Anglo-Jewish Ministers from 1909 to 1913 as a part of the Standing Committee as well as the Sub-Committee on the District Organisation of Provincial Congregations in 1911.

Salis Daiches wanted the devolution of power so that a Scottish Beth Din with its own halakhic decision-making powers could exist.

The issue was no longer brought up in the conferences after 1914, but Salis Daiches continued to lobby the Chief Rabbis.

The next year Salis Daiches moved to Edinburgh to become their rabbi.

Salis Daiches arrived to a congregation and city divided between anglicised Jews and recent Eastern European immigrants.

Salis Daiches quickly began working on uniting the congregation, striking a balance between encouraging assimilation and respecting immigrant traditions.

Therefore, each Shabbat, Salis Daiches preached at both places, using English for the British community and Yiddish for the Eastern European Jews.

Salis Daiches investigated him and found his rabbinical credentials had been invented.

The next year Daiches began a fundraising campaign to build Salisbury Road Synagogue which was meant to house the entire community, British and immigrant.

Salis Daiches was heavily involved in both the Jewish and broader community.

Salis Daiches preached harmony between Orthodox Jewish life and secular society.

Salis Daiches had a high public profile, addressing learned societies, social gatherings and interest groups.

Salis Daiches continuously petitioned Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz for the creation of a Scottish Beth Din so that he could better enforce halakhic and civil law.

Salis Daiches publicly denounced Christian missionaries that were attempting to convert poor Jewish immigrants.

Salis Daiches challenged the city on religious education in state schools, lobbying until Edinburgh made free Hebrew classes available four days a week at Sciennes Primary School.