Candles, Conversions and Class

Candles, Conversions and Class by Fiona Frank

This book charts the progress of five generations of a Scottish Jewish family, from the arrival of Rabbi Zvi David and Sophia Hoppenstein in Edinburgh in the 1880s, to the present day. Fiona Frank—whose aunt, celebrated Glasgow artist Hannah Frank, married into the Hoppenstein family—tracked down and interviewed Zvi David and Sophia’s descendants across the UK and as faras Cape Town. Some branches of the family were harder to find than others, as ‘outmarriage’ meant that some cousins were no longer in touch with the wider family. Fiona listened as members of the family talked about their relationship with their Jewish identity and their Jewish roots.