Kosher and Jewish Life in Cambridge

An Orthodox synagogue and Jewish student centre is located on Thompson's Lane, operated jointly by the Cambridge Traditional Jewish Congregation and the Cambridge University Jewish Society, which is affiliated to the Union of Jewish Students. The Beth Shalom Reform synagogue which previously met at a local school, has recently purchased land to construct a purpose-built synagogue building. There is also a student-led egalitarian minyan which holds services on Friday evenings. 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 prior to the end of that century. 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. Kosher food can be bought in several supermarkets around town.