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Oxford and the Jewish Problem

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Jewish life at Oxford University faces a crisis of sustainability, with severely fragmented community structures and minimal institutional support threatening the preservation of Jewish identity among students. Through two years of participant observation as a Jewish doctoral student, including ethnographic fieldwork and informal conversations, this research reveals a scattered population of 400-500 Jewish students within the university's 8,000 enrollment, alongside an estimated 500-2,000 Jews in Oxford's broader community of 100,000. The sole synagogue operates without a permanent rabbi, while kosher dining options remain scarce and professional Jewish chaplaincy services nonexistent. Deep divisions between town and gown Jewish populations, coupled with chronic underfunding and intense assimilation pressures, have led to widespread religious abandonment and intermarriage among students. The absence of cornerstone institutions like Hillel, limited engagement from Jewish faculty, and insufficient support from London's established Jewish community further undermine religious continuity. Without substantial intervention from the broader Anglo-Jewish community - particularly the appointment of a full-time chaplain and increased funding - the prospects for maintaining Jewish identity and developing future Jewish leadership in Britain appear critically endangered.

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    Published 1965

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    Edward Gershfield