Beit Ner Support us

A small light on Chapel Row.
Come in, there is always challah.

A liberal Jewish community of ninety households in an old Methodist hall. Services in Hebrew and English, families of every shape, and a kitchen that is never quite empty.

A long synagogue hall with wooden pews either side of a red carpet leading to the ark.

Come on a Friday

Our services

A painted blue dome inside a synagogue with a Star of David window and Hebrew lettering around the ceiling.

Friday night, sung together

Kabbalat Shabbat with guitar and a choir of whoever turns up. Forty-five minutes, then kiddush and soup in the hall.

Two tall stained glass windows with a menorah and scenes in warm yellow, red and blue.

Saturday, around a table

Torah study is a conversation, not a lecture. Bring your questions and your doubts; we bring coffee and the week's portion in English.

Thursday kitchen club

Bake with us this month

Small braided loaves scattered with sesame seeds in a basket.

First plait

Thu 2 Oct

Save a place
A golden braided loaf on a baking tray, close up.

Six strands

Thu 9 Oct

Save a place
A shiny braided loaf with black seeds on a dark wooden board.

Round for the new year

Thu 16 Oct

Save a place
An older man sitting behind a table piled with bread rings on a street.

Baking for the shelter

Thu 23 Oct

Save a place

From the journal

A brass menorah with lit candles in a dim room with a carved wooden ark behind.

2 Oct · 4 minute read

What we keep when we move house

When the community left the old room above the bakery, we took the ark, the books, and the dented urn that has made every cup of tea since 1971. Rabbi Leah on the things we could not leave behind.

And why the urn now has its own shelf.

Read the journal

The building

An old chapel hall, a new lamp over the door, and room at every table for one more.

Support the building fund A stone facade with carved Hebrew lettering above two tall, colourfully painted doors.

Before Friday night

A Star of David in red and gold set into an ornate painted ceiling.

Where to sit

Anywhere. Families tend to sit near the back door; there are large-print prayer books with English on every other seat.

A braided loaf with black seeds on a wooden board next to a glass of tea.

What to bring

Nothing at all. If you would like to, bring a dish to share for the meal after — vegetarian, so everyone can eat it.

A long plaited loaf of unbaked dough dusted with sesame on a white tray.

How long

The service is forty-five minutes. Dinner is as long as the conversation; most people leave by nine.

Tell us you are coming