This year the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre joined another 100 historic buildings in taking part in the annual Glasgow Doors Open Day Festival which ran from 16th-22th of September. This year we were fully booked and welcomed 152 visitors to explore our building and history on the 22nd of September.
We arranged this year for six guided tours each lasting forty-five-minutes of the Garnethill Synagogue. The tours of the Synagogue were given by a team of volunteer guides who directed the visitors around the foyer and into the prayer hall. The guides highlighted details about the architecture of the Category A listed building, how the first Jewish congregation in Garnethill make their impact to Victorian Glasgow as well as aspects of Jewish religious practices and way of life.
One highlight of the event for many visitors were two performances by The Glasgow Jewish Singers, led by Eddie Binnie. Songs of blessing were sung such as Yevorech’cha which is a priestly blessing with the melody composed by the late Ernest Levy, a Holocaust survivor and cantor at Giffnock Synagogue. Visitors were also joining in by clapping to the beat of the famous Jewish Folk song Hava Nagila which is sung at celebrations to finish their choir set.
After their tour visitors could proceed to the lower ground level where they found the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre. They could speak to their volunteers in the Jacobs Room as well as explore the A New Life in Scotland exhibition, displaying stories of Jewish immigrants’ who settled in Scotland from the late 1700s to present day.
Following this, visitors visited the Scottish Holocaust-era Study Centre and the adjacent Scotland a Sanctuary Succah display on refugees who arrived in Scotland in the 1930/40s and the organisations and people from all backgrounds who helped them flee danger in Nazi occupied Europe.
A café was run by members of the Garnethill Hebrew Congregation in our Function room so visitors could enjoy a cuppa while perusing our Hidden Histories display on Scotland’s former Jewish Communities in Falkirk, Dunfermline, Dundee, Inverness, Greenock and Ayr.
The Doors Open Day event was put together by The Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre, along with partner organisations the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre and the Garnethill Synagogue Preservation Trust as well as working with Garnethill Hebrew Congregation. Additionally, the valuable help of the volunteers from each of these organisations made the day possible.
