Two Worlds: An Edinburgh Jewish Childhood

by David Daiches

Covering his childhood and student years, David Daiches recalls a unique period between the two world wars. There was something special about the Scottish-Jewish interchange in those years. Daiches was one of the sons of Edinburgh's Chief Rabbi. In their home, a quiet dark hub of foreign faith, memories of light and fesitivity predominate. Illustrious visitors from every corner of the globe would call on the distinguished Rabbi and the sons of the house would argue cheerfully with these itinerant scholars and diplomats. School was Scottish Presbyterian, with its characteristic smells of wood, chalk, ink and schoolbag leather. Daiches did not play games, sing hymns, wear the ubiquitous school shorts or socialize after school, yet not only did he survive these tribulations, he excelled. The book includes the author's memoirs of his father, "Promised Lands". It is a meditation on religious tolerance, and his father's vision of a society that could respect and synthesize cultural difference is of relevance to modern Scotland.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Jewish, History, Judaica, Autobiography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

David Daiches was a Scottish literary historian and literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote extensively on English literature, Scottish literature and Scottish culture.

He was born in Sunderland, into a Jewish family with a Lithuanian background - the subject of his 1956 memoir, Two Worlds: An Edinburgh Jewish Childhood. He moved to Edinburgh while still a young child, about the end of World War I, where his father, Rev. Dr. Salis Daiches was rabbi to Edinburgh's Jewish community. He studied at George Watson's College and won a scholarship to University of Edinburgh where he won the Elliot prize. He went to Oxford where he became the Elton exhibitioner, and was elected Fellow of Balliol College in 1936.

During World War II, he worked for the British Embassy in Washington, DC, producing pamphlets for the British Information Service and drafting speeches on British institutions and foreign policy.

Daiches' first published work was The Place of Meaning in Poetry, published in 1935. He was a prolific writer, producing works on English literature, Scottish literature, literary history and criticism as well as the broader role of literature in society and culture.

Daiches was the father of Jenni Calder, also a Scottish literary historian.

Reviews

[David Campton · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating perspective on an alternative Edinburgh childhood from a century ago that rings very true to my own. I'm shamefully ignorant of Judaism, this book certainly enlightened me to some of its aspects.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this memoir about Jewish life in Edinburgh, Scotland, mostly in pre-World War II days. Well-written and informative.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.