Channel Islands Shtiebel
Lay-led • Heimish • Traditional
A small, warm, lay-led place for davening, singing and welcoming the Shabbat together.
We meet for Kabbalat Shabbat in a heimish setting, following traditional Modern Orthodox Jewish minhag.
Our hope is to build a sincere and steady makom tefillah in the Channel Islands: sincere davening, warm company and the simple grace of welcoming Shabbat together.
Visitors are welcome. Participation is valued. Presence matters.
For security reasons, details regarding forthcoming Kabbalat Shabbat events are provided privately upon enquiry.
Please contact us if you would like further information.
We are a warm, intimate and welcoming lay-led traditional Modern Orthodox Jewish kehillah, nestled in a beautiful rural farm setting in Jersey, Channel Islands.
A shtiebel, Yiddish for ‘little house’, is heimish by nature: a small, personal space for prayer and community. Ours is a place where faces are familiar, participation is encouraged and everyone helps shape the experience.
The shtiebel occupies a rare surviving early Jersey farmhouse. Records, capstones and other sources suggest that the house may date back to the 1300s. It certainly existed by the 15th century and features a beautiful early 15th-century arched doorway in the style of a Guernsey small parlour house, one of only a handful of such properties remaining on the island.
What makes our shtiebel special is the genuine warmth and sense of belonging we offer. Whether you are occasionally observant or traditionally committed, you will feel at home here. Our kehillah is committed to Torah, sincere tefillah and Halachah.
We would love for you to join us to daven, sing and share the warmth.
Jewish life in the Channel Islands has a long and complex history. The earliest records indicate that individual Jewish residents lived in Jersey from at least 1790.
The Jersey Old Hebrew Congregation was officially founded in St Helier in 1843 and dissolved around 1870. Although organised communal structures lapsed after that date, Jewish residents continued to live in the islands; Jewish life never entirely disappeared from the Channel Islands.
During the German Occupation (1940–1945), Jews and others targeted by Nazi policy in the Channel Islands faced registration, restriction, deportation, imprisonment, forced labour and persecution.
Alderney’s wartime history remains significant. A 2024 expert review commissioned by Lord Pickles examined evidence concerning prisoners who died there under Nazi occupation, including forced and slave labourers brought to the island to build German fortifications in atrocious conditions.
After a slight revival of Jewish life following the Second World War, regular religious services began in members’ homes in November 1961, culminating in the founding of the present-day congregation. The Jersey Jewish Congregation considers 1962 its official post-war founding year. In 1972, the community converted a former Methodist schoolroom in St Brelade to serve as its synagogue.
The Channel Islands Shtiebel stands within this wider history with humility: committed to Torah, tefillah, memory and the continuing presence of traditional Jewish life in the Channel Islands.