Who we are
In the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside of Shenley, with sheep often not far away, every Shabbat and Yom Tov you’ll hear the sweet sounds of davening coming from the Chapel just past the bend along Porters Park Drive.
There was a Mental Health hospital on the site of todays Porters Park Development, but this closed in 1989, and over the course of the next decade or so, more than 900 houses were built in its place. People started moving to the area, and this included Jews who flocked to the village in search of a quieter life and something a little bit different from the traditional Yiddishe suburbs of North West London.
The nearest shuls to Shenley were in Borehamwood and Radlett, so in 1999, deep in the offices of the United Synagogue (US), a grand plan was hatched to launch a brand spanking new community.
Following multiple meetings in 2001 between the founding families and the US, we decided the time was right to have our very first service. To make sure we got enough people, we decided this service should be Kol Nidrei which took place at the Shenley Cricket Centre. This was a great success with more than 50 people attending.
So the conversations with the US continued and we decided to plan for our next milestone, our very first Shabbat service. This took place in the Chapel on 26 January 2002, sedra Beshalach. You could say this was the official launch of the SUJC.
This service was a momentous success with over 100 people attending.
As well as members of our community, we also hosted dignitaries from the US, including Leonie Lewis, US Head of Community Development and Geoff Hartnell, Chair of the Herts Forum. Every one of us has them to thank that we have a shul in Shenley. It’s also lovely that many of the families that helped organise this service are still part of our community today.
Slowly but surely, we got ourselves on the map and our growth accelerated as people recognised the SUJC as an up-and-coming new US Jewish community that offered something a little bit different from others across the South East.
Over the next couple of years, we were like nomads as we moved from building to building. We davened in people’s homes, Shenley Primary School, Shenley Cricket Centre and even Wilton Lodge, the old people’s home. Eventually we became more settled as the Chapel became our venue of choice alongside the Cricket Centre as a back-up.
As a result of this continued growth and optimism, it became important for us to find somewhere we could call home! Thanks to the relentless efforts of Darren Spevick, Phil Diamond, Josh Simons and others, we secured the stage end of the Chapel on a twelve-year lease. Following extensive refurbishments, we opened it up to business and in the summer of 2019 held our first services there.
Huge thanks must also be given to all the members of our community who so generously donated to make sure that the internal furnishings could be purchased. With this in mind, a massive thanks goes out to Andrew Cohen and his Cohen Foundation,and also the Shenley Park Trust who have supported us right from the start to the present day.
The evolution of SUJC has been nothing but exciting and fulfilling. It’s an amazing accomplishment by members past and present. We’re now thriving and more than 200 families belong to our shul.
With regard to SUJC, the late Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l, wrote an inspirational letter to the community following a visit by the founding members to his residence in January 2002. He recalled how his late father would knock on people’s doors when he saw a new mezuzah appear, welcome them to the neighbourhood and invite them to shul the following Shabbat. In his letter, he wrote: “He made me realise that we must reach out to our fellow Jews, that belonging to a community is the single most powerful act of Jewish Commitment, and that shuls are built less by bricks and mortar than by acts of welcome and friendship.”
We would like to welcome you to the Shenley United Jewish Community
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Shenley United Jewish Community