About the OJC
על הקהילה
The Oxford Jewish Congregation provides for the needs of all Jews in Oxford, all under one roof. Whether permanent residents, students, or visitors, whatever your background or your tradition, your level of observance or your circumstances, you have a home in this community.
Membership of the Congregation is open to all persons of the Jewish faith, and both men and women are counted as full members. Significantly, the community does not have a rabbi or other formal spiritual leader: except on High Holy Days, and for part of the summer when absences create the need for some assistance with lehening, all the services are run by lay volunteers.
Most services at the OJC are Orthodox, run by a religious services committee in accordance with halachic principles and long-standing local custom, but other groups within the OJC organise Progressive, Masorti, children's and women's services, all in accordance with their own traditions. Each group is entitled and expected to protect the integrity of its form of service; but each group also understands and accepts that it is part of a wider and unified community and their activities are coordinated by the OJC Council.
Membership of the Congregation is open to all persons of the Jewish faith, and both men and women are counted as full members. Significantly, the community does not have a rabbi or other formal spiritual leader: except on High Holy Days, and for part of the summer when absences create the need for some assistance with lehening, all the services are run by lay volunteers.
Most services at the OJC are Orthodox, run by a religious services committee in accordance with halachic principles and long-standing local custom, but other groups within the OJC organise Progressive, Masorti, children's and women's services, all in accordance with their own traditions. Each group is entitled and expected to protect the integrity of its form of service; but each group also understands and accepts that it is part of a wider and unified community and their activities are coordinated by the OJC Council.
How does this all work in practice?
The Oxford Jewish Centre is run on a day-to-day basis by a Management Committee, whose chairman is appointed by a separate company, the Oxford Synagogue and Jewish Centre Ltd, with members appointed by the OJC and Oxford JSoc. The Management Committee's responsibilities include ensuring that the principle of equal access for 'all forms of Jewish worship' is upheld. In practice, the arrangements are usually settled between the respective service convenors. Orthodox services are normally held in the 'main' shul, and any alternative service in an adjacent multi-purpose room - but this is only because the Orthodox services generally attract larger numbers. If, on a particular Shabbat, either the Liberal or Masorti group wants to use the main shul (e.g. for a family simcha such as a bar/batmitvah) the locations are switched.
