It's just not important enough to me, not something I think about. Many were families escaping from persecution in the Russian pogroms. Russia had always had a tiny Jewish population but still fought to keep the Jews out. However, with the annexation of parts of Poland came a Jewish population of more than one million who were treated with increasing hostility. Glasgow was very often a staging post for Jews travelling to America from the Baltic and many decided to stay on, establishing themselves at first in the west end and the Gorbals and increasing in prosperity with each new generation.
Today there are six synagogues in Glasgow, mostly on the south side of the city.
In the past there were 15,000 Jews living in Glasgow, whereas today the number has dropped to 7000. An affluent single man, he has no problem with flying thousands of miles in pursuit of his soul mate and has just returned from a Jewish singles event in Budapest. He and a friend from Glasgow were the only Jewish people there from north of the Watford gap. They spent their weekend touring the winding streets of Budapest, including a visit to the old Ghetto and synagogues. On the Saturday evening they stepped along a red carpet up the stairs to the entrance of one of Budapest's most ornate art galleries, after a security check that is second nature to all those who have ever flown with El Al, they sat down to dinner with 400 other single Jews from all over the world.