Colchester and District Jewish Community

Congregation Data

Colchester and District Jewish Community

The Synagogue, Fennings Chase, Priory Street, Colchester CO1 2QG.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

The Synagogue was built in 1969 on land purchased from the Spiritualist Church.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

The congregation was formally founded in 1957,^(iv) although the synagogue was not acquired until 1969.

However, services had been held locally since World War II, and the congregation appears to have developed, in part, from an earlier Colchester and District Jewish Association, founded in 1952, which met monthly and held services on the high holy days.^(v)

Active

Traditional Ashkenazi Orthodox^(viii)

The congregation is independent and unaffiliated. Members are free to pick their own burial schemes and no specific one is favoured. Membership of the congregation is not connected with any of the burial schemes and does not require the membership of one to be a member. The municipal cemetery (see below) has space reserved for both Orthodox Jewish and non-Orthodox Jewish burials.^(ix)

None listed

Wardens

1957-1961 - B. Glasman^(xii)

1961-1962 - H. Cohen^(xii)

Treasurers & Hon. Secretaries

1957-1961 - G. Kane^(xiv)

1961-1962 - Mrs. M. Young & J. Goldstein^(xv)

Subsequently, but prior to 2000 (date uncertain), Alex Bennet served as chair, warden and treasurer of the congregation and also conducted services.^(xvi)

http://cdjc.org.uk/

National Reports and Surveys:^(xvii)

1977 - 59 male (or household) members and estimated 11 female members

1983 - 60 male (or household) members and estimated 15 female members

1990 - 70 members (comprising 53 households, 1 individual male and 16 individual female members)

1996 - 91 members (comprising 73 households, 2 individual male and 16 individual female members)

2010 & 2016 - listed as having 50 to 99 members (by household)

Other Sources^(xviii)

2024 - membership of 69 (97 adults)

The Community includes several members of staff and students from Essex University.

Colchester and District Jewish Community (with 'CDJC' as an alternative working name) is a registered charity (no. 237240), standard registration, registered on 29 March 1965.^(xix)

In the late eighteenth century a synagogue appears to have been established in Colchester. An article in the Ipswich Journal in June 1791 described in some detail the marriage of Samuel Levi, late of Bury, to Kitty, daughter of Isaac Abrahams of Colchester in the Synagogue - yard, in Angel Lane, the site of their earlier occupation. "The bridegroom led by the bride's father, preceded by the Rabbi and friends with a band of music, were followed by the bride clad in white and veiled with her mother and grandmother. Under a canopy supported by four men, the form of solemnisation in Hebrew was read and at the conclusion after the bride and groom had each drunk part of a glass of wine he threw it to the ground to denote that as the glass could never be made again, so difficult would it be for them to be separated in this life. A public feast followed and the day concluded with the highest festivity and decorum ....... the strictest propriety prevailed throughout the whole of the ceremony."^(xx)

Colchester is also the home of a major British army garrison. A designated synagogue is known to have existed within the Colchester Garrison from at least 1945 until at least 1947.^(xxi)

Essex (since 1 February 2010)^(xxii) - Link to Register Office website

Cemetery Details:

The congregation has its own cemetery in Colchester:

Colchester Cemetery, Jewish Section, Mersea Road, Colchester CO2

This was established in 2011 and has both an orthodox and a non-orthodox section.^(xxiii)

(For additional information, see also IAJGS Cemetery Project - Colchester)

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

• (i) Reserved.

• (ii) Listed as the congregation's address in Jewish Year Books commencing 1970. ↵

• (iii) The congregation's website, accessed January 2017 ↵

• (iv) Jewish Year Book 1958. ↵

• (v) Listed in Jewish Year Books from 1953 through 1961. ↵

• (vi) and (vii) Reserved.

• (viii) The congregation uses the Singer's Prayer Book - Congregation's website. ↵

• (ix) Communication from vice chairman of the congregation, 18 March 2024. Congregation's website, accessed January 2017, specifically commented that. although members may be affiliated to the United Synagogue for burial puroses, the congregation does not receive any direct financial assistance from the United Synagogue, nor is it required to make any financial contribution to the United Synagogue. ↵

• (x) and (xi) Reserved.

• (xii) Listed as warden in Jewish Year Books 1958 through 1961. ↵

• (xiii) Listed as warden in the Jewish Year Book 1962. ↵

• (xiv) Listed as treasurer and hon. secretary in Jewish Year Books 1958 through 1961. ↵

• (xv) Listed as joint treasurers and hon. secretaries in the Jewish Year Books 1962. ↵

• (xvi) Jewish Chronicle report. To view a short profile of Alex Bennett, hold the cursor over his name. ↵

• (xvii) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports. ↵

• (xviii) Communication from vice chairman of the congregation, 18 March 2024. ↵

• (xix) Charity Commission website, last accessed March 2024. Clicking the charity number will take you to the charity's registration on the website. ↵

• (xx) Congregation's website, accessed January 2017. ↵

• (xxi) In the "History" section on the congregation's website, accessed September 2021, it notes that "1945-47 - Jewish National Servicemen held Friday evening services on Garrison premises." The Jewish Chronicle of 21 March 1947 also makes reference to Colchester as maintaining one of three garrison synagogues. ↵

• (xxii) The former Registration District was Colchester from 1 July 1837 to 1 February 2010. Any registers would now be held by the current register office. ↵

• (xxiii) Congregation's website, accessed January 2017. ↵