Cambridge Jewish Community

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the official website for this community.

City of Cambridge

The university city of Cambridge, situated in the east of England on the river Cam, has a population of over 100,000. It was a municipal borough until 1974, when it became a local government district of the administrative county of Cambridgeshire.

The Cambridge Jewish Community

There had been a medieval Jewish community in Cambridge. Jews had began to resettle in Cambridge by the mid-eighteenth century and the town is believed to have had an organised community by 1774. However, the community did not continue long into the nineteenth century and was defunct by the 1830s. It was then re-established in the 1840s.

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that existed in Cambridge:

Beth Shalom Reform Synagogue*
Cambridge & Suffolk Jewish Community (Hama'ayan)
Cambridge Progressive Jewish Society*
Cambridge Traditional Jewish Congregation* - "Cambridge Synagogue" (including predecessor nineteenth century congregations)
"Lyon's" Synagogue (consecrated 1798)

* An active congregation.

Search the All-UK Database

The records in the database associated with Cambridge include:

1851 Anglo Jewry Database (updated 2016)

Individuals in the 1851 Anglo Jewry Database who were living in Cambridge during the 1790s (8 records), 1800s (11 records), 1810s (8 records); 1820s (4 records), 1830s (6 records), 1840s (13 records), 1850s (25 records), 1860s (3 records), 1870s (9 records), 1880s (4 records), 1890s (3 records) and 1900s (2 records).

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Cambridge Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

The Rise of Provincial Jewry - Cambridge by Cecil Roth, 1950, covering the period to 1840. Available on JCR-UK as part of the Susser Archive.
Cambridge from "Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain" - Papers for a conference at University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6th July 1975.
Press Reports relating to founding of Cambridge's 18th Century Congregation
Cambridge Medieval Community
Bibliography.

on third party's website

Jewish Encyclopaedia article on Cambridge by Joseph Jacobs and Francis L. Cohen, c-1906.

Other Cambridge Jewish Institutions

Other Jewish institutions that exist in the Cambridge include the following:

Chabad of Cambridge (http://www.cuchabad.org) Founded in 2003 by Chabad Representative Rabbi Reuven Leigh who is currently (February 2016) still Director. In 2006, it acquired Rohr Chabad House.
Cambridge Jewish Residents Association (CJRA) (http://cambridgejewishresidents.org) Founded in 1940-41 following the influx of Jewish evacuees and refugees during World War II. CJRA is a representative body for all Jews in Cambridge and is an umbrella group for th ewhole Jewish community.
Cambridge Jewish Cultural Association - An offshoot of CJRA.
Cambridge University Jewish Society

Community Records

Registration District (for BMD): Cambridgeshire (since 1 October 2007).
- Previous Registration Districts
     Cambridge (from 1 July 1837 to 1 April 1935);
     Cambridgeshire (from 1 April 1935 to 1 April 1935);
     Cambridge (1 April 1935 to 1 October 2007).
- Any registers would now be held by current register office, which is situated in Huntingdon.
- Link to Register Office website

Cambridge Jewish Cemeteries Information

Cambridge has (or had) the following Jewish cemeteries:

Newmarket Road Cemetery, Jewish Section. This (together with the Jewish Section at the new Dry Drayton Cemetery) is the cemetery of the Jewish orthodox congregation. The cemetery was established in 1941.
Newmarket Road Cemetery, Reform Jewish Section, established in 1984
There are also a number of American Jewish servicemen buried in the American War Cemetery, Madingley Road, just outside Cambridge.
(There was also a medieval Jewish Cemetery in use from after 1177 until 1290.)

(For additional information, see IAJGS Cemeteries Project - Cambridge)

Cambridge Jewish Population Data (excluding student population)
1895	43	(The Jewish Year Book 1895/6)
1898	73	(The Jewish Year Book 1898/99)
1900	50	(The Jewish Year Book 1900/01
1909	60	(The Jewish Year Book 1910)
1934	100	(The Jewish Year Book 1935)
1955	200	(The Jewish Year Book 1956)
1990	500	(The Jewish Year Book 1991)
2001	over 1,000	(The Jewish Year Book 2001)
2004	850	(The Jewish Year Book 2005)
2011	870	(The Jewish Year Book 2012)

Jewish Congregations in Cambridgeshire

Jewish Communities of England home page

Page created: 21 August 2005
Latest revision or update: 18 January 2021

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