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Salis Daiches was a Scottish rabbi who was widely considered to be the de facto leader of Scottish Jews. He served as rabbi of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation.

Daiches spearheaded the establishment of a communal organisation for the Jews of Edinburgh, and in 1921 oversaw the merging of the Edinburgh Jewish Representative Council with the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation. Daiches believed that unity and cohesion among Scottish Jews was the best way to counter antisemitism and, by the 1930s, to aid in assisting German Jews. By the 1930s, the combined Jewish populations of Edinburgh, Leith, Falkirk and Dunfermline stood at around 3000 individuals, who were mostly middle class compared to the larger community found in Glasgow.

During the 1930s and the rise of Nazism, the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation under Daiches' leadership recognised early on the need to provide tangible support to German Jews, notably acknowledging the perils they faced months before the national leadership, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, did the same.

Daiches served as a president of the British Zionist Federation.

During the 1930s, there were recurring calls for a devolved beth din to be established in Scotland under Daiches' leadership. Scotland had no devolved Jewish religious leadership, with the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations serving as the religious leader of Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews residing in Scotland.