New profile for synagogue

The Oxford Synagogue and Jewish Centre in Richmond Road is in the midst of a £1.5 million redevelopment. The new building on the right-hand side will offer facilities for young people as well as a library and meeting room. This will be the third major development of a synagogue on this site. Although the Jewish community had previously used other buildings in Oxford, they established their first settled home in a house in Worcester Place in 1883, moving in 1893 to a building in Nelson Street. Subsequently they purchased other houses and a builder’s yard in Nelson Street and Richmond Road to allow room for expansion and built a more modern facility which opened in 1974. The current redevelopment was needed to meet the needs of a growing Jewish community in Oxford—currently over 250 families plus university students. It has cost around £1.5 million which was raised from sources in Oxford and elsewhere. Oxford Synagogue is fairly distinctive in that it brings together all denominations of Judaism. Although it does serve the needs of some local people, most of the 80 to 100 people who come to services on a Saturday morning are from other parts of Oxford—the nearest alternatives are in Maidenhead and Reading. Andrew Silver is President of the Oxford Jewish Congregation, “It’s a wonderful location,” he says , “and we enjoy our time in Jericho. The city-centre location is also very useful to those Orthodox Jews who cannot use cars on the Sabbath”. Interestingly, it is also across the road from the Lebanese Cultural Centre in Al-Shami’s ­—a juxtaposition, he points out, “that says a lot about the diversity of Jericho.” The new buildings on the right-hand side of the site should be finished in July, after which activities will move across, to allow for refurbishment of the existing building. Completion is likely in October, with a rededication ceremony planned for January 2004.