Welcome to Exeter Synagogue

The President and members of Exeter Hebrew Congregation would like to thank churches, groups and all individuals for the messages of goodwill and support we have received at this difficult time. Regretfully we may be unable to reply individually, but this does not lessen our appreciation and gratitude for the support shown to us, and to the wider Jewish community at this time.

Exeter Hebrew Congregation is a welcoming, non denominational small Jewish community serving members in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset and beyond. To arrange visits prior appointments are required. It may be Britain's third oldest active synagogue but our community is still very much active and continues to hold services every week, monthly family services as well as regular events.

Membership

We welcome anyone who is Jewish to become a member of the Congregation. We are also welcoming to those who are not Jewish who wish to be associated with us. For more information on how to join us please click here.


Services

We hold services nearly every Shabbat and for most festivals. Exeter is not affiliated to any of the movements and we hold a variety of service styles. For some services, men and women may sit together, and the service is conducted mostly in English. For others, we may ask men and women to sit separately, and the service may be more traditional in style. We try to make all services accessible to everyone regardless of previous preferences. Visiting rabbis and service leaders are welcomed from a variety of denominations. Most services will be available on Zoom, and some services may only be accessible via Zoom.

For further details of the proposed services for the coming weeks please click here.


Family Services

Planned usually for the second Saturday every month, these are reduced in length to make them accessible for younger members who take an active role. Click here


Cheder

Exeter Hebrew Congregation gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance provided by the North London Progressive Synagogue Trust in the form of a grant which is covering the costs of a visiting Rabbi and/or Student Rabbi one Shabbat per month.

We also thank and gratefully acknowledge the involvement of Liberal Judaism in brokering the arrangements which have revitalised our cheder and enabled regular adult education sessions.

Our monthly “education focus” weekends are an undoubted success: the erev Shabbat service followed by supper and discussion/education is always extremely well attended and attracts established members, local students and visitors.

With the help of our visiting Rabbis, we are delighted to report that we now have 12 regular attendees at our Shabbat morning Cheder with 4 children having started their Bar/bat mitzvah preparations. After our now legendary monthly “bring and share” post service Shabbat lunch, the whole community goes for a walk and then returns for more food, discussion on the Parasha or recent festivals and we end the day with Havdalah.

We are looking forward to continuing our education focussed collaboration with Liberal Judaism and remain indebted to the NLPS Trust for their most generous grant which has made such a difference to our Community.

For more information please click here.

Events

Our community runs a number of events for members and friends throughout the year with opportunities to learn and socalise. To see what is coming up soon in Exeter please click here.


Newsletter Articles

Articles from our newsletter going back over ten years, giving you a good idea about us as people, as a congregation, and what we do and believe. Click here


Visits to the Synagogue

Visits to the synagogue by educational groups are always welcome. Please contact the synagogue to make arrangements. Visits by individuals are also possible, but please try to give us notice, as we are all volunteers, with other commitments, such as jobs and families. Click here


Finding out about Judaism

For those of you who want to discover more about Judaism, Jewish Life and Israel, here are some useful links to help you get there quickly.


Our Health and Safety Policy

We have agreed a Health and Safety Policy.
It should be read by anyone with business in the synagogue and followed at all times.

It is available for download here


Our Archives

There is a great deal more about the history of the community here. Our archives have been deposited with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain.

In particular, there is a link to an extensive section devoted to information about Rabbi Dr Bernard Susser z"l, now available through the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain.