Which University has the best Jewish Society?

I'm going to uni next year and want to get more involved with my religion. Any ideas about what makes a good JSoc and how I can get involved and fit in there would be awesome!

Reply 1

999tigger

Original post by TheRosaBelle

I'm going to uni next year and want to get more involved with my religion. Any ideas about what makes a good JSoc and how I can get involved and fit in there would be awesome!

I am surprised this might influence you on where to go. Not aware of any uni which jewish people favour. One thing you cna do if you are that keen is to contact Jewish societies across you potential unis and start interacting so you can get an idea of how they work and which ones are active. they will have a facebook, e-mail or website from the SU page.

Start off with the Union of Jewish Students and network from there.

http://www.ujs.org.uk/

Reply 2

jelly1000

Original post by TheRosaBelle

I'm going to uni next year and want to get more involved with my religion. Any ideas about what makes a good JSoc and how I can get involved and fit in there would be awesome!

The most active ones are at the 'Jewnies' Leeds, Birmingham and Nottingham being the top three (and also Nottingham Trent & Leeds Met I think). They usually do regular friday night dinners, saturday services, general socials e.c.t The way to get involved is the same as with any other society, turn up to the society fair and sign up and you'll get details of events & can decide which to go to.

Reply 3

TheRosaBelle

Original post by 999tigger

It won't really impact where I chose to go (in fact I've already made my choices and applied) I was just curious! Thanks so much for all your advice!

Reply 4

TheRosaBelle

Original post by jelly1000

I've applied to all three of those so that's fab! Thanks for the advice!

Reply 5

username402722

Perhaps worth researching those universities with people in the Labour Party or Labour Society who make anti-semitic comments or condone them.

Reply 6

999tigger

Original post by jelly1000

Are these traditionally known as having a high level of jewish students? If so then do you now why?

Reply 7

jelly1000

Original post by 999tigger

Are these traditionally known as having a high level of jewish students? If so then do you now why?

Yes they are. No idea what the original appeal was to the first Jewish people who went, but it seems to have sparked some kind of chain reaction. Nowdays Jewish students are attracted by the idea of having others around to celebrate Jewish festivals & the sabbath and move in with in a kosher house share from 2nd year onwards.

Reply 8

BritishJew

Original post by 999tigger

Are these traditionally known as having a high level of jewish students? If so then do you now why?

Well a practicing Jew would need access to a synagogue and easy access to Kosher food. In areas with enough Jews a supermarket will have a kosher food section. It also has to be the right sort of synagogue for you (e.g. Liberal, central orthodox).

So pretty obvious why Leeds and Birmingham attract lots of Jewish students, each has several synagogues. Leeds has a large Jewish area, with Kosher deli's and restaurants. Not sure about Nottingham.

Also most Jews live in London, Manchester or Leeds, so are used to large metropolitan areas. So would be more likely to choose to live in a large city like Nottingham rather than a small one like Lincoln? You don't get many 'rural' Jews in the UK.

Some university towns have no synagogue at all, and with no Jewish population aren't going to have any Kosher food availability. Some small communities have van deliveries every other week or something, but its not a great way to live having to wait for a courier delivery of Kosher meat from Manchester or London every 4 weeks when you are a student.

There have been a lot of small Jewish communities disappear when the last synagogue closes or the last Kosher butcher closes down. This happened in Hull which once had several thousand Jews and now has a couple of hundred, most moved to Manchester, and struggles to source Kosher food is a big part of the reason. Live in Leeds and you'll have loads of restaurants and takeaways you can use.

Oh and there are a few universities where antisemitism is rife and you will likely be attacked or abused just for being Jewish, and unable to host any Jewish related events without being attacked by anti-Zionists, even if your event doesn't have anything to do with Israel.... like Southampton, Exeter, SOAS and Manchester (which would be an easy choice for many Jews otherwise).