Services
Although we are a small community we hold services for Shabbat every Friday evening and once a month (usually on the first Saturday morning of each calendar month, but it can vary - see our What's On page). All our services are held in the synagogue and simultaneously on Zoom. We also make Havdalah once a month on Zoom, from autumn to spring, on the same day as our morning service.
We also hold a range of services on the various Jewish festivals and a full set of services on the High Holydays.
Please see our Festivals and High Holydays pages for further details.
All of the the above services are conducted by our own highly experienced but self-taught lay readers.
In addition we also hold occasional services on civic occasions and on Holocaust Memorial Day every third year (in rotation with Rochester Cathedral and civic venues).
For an up to date look at what is happening, please visit our What's On page or if you wish to enquire about attending services you can use one of the options on our Contact Us page. Visitors are always welcome to any of our services but it is helpful if you let us know in advance that you you are going to attend.
Hybrid Services
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Chatham Memorial synagogue is independent and therefore able to make decisions on what we think is right for our community.
During the period when the synagogue was closed from March 2020 to June 2021, we held all our services on Zoom and these were very successful with a minyan at nearly every service. We did this as a way of keeping our community together while being physically apart. During this period our congregation included people from around the UK and from places as far afield as Israel, the USA and Australia. When we reopened at the end of June with Covid restrictions, the decision was taken unanimously to continue holding services on Zoom simultaneously. Our congregation was almost 50-50 in person and on Zoom. Since June, including the High Holydays, this decision was justified by the number of people who have joined us on Zoom, who were unable to join us in person. The pandemic has taught us, as a community, that 21st Century technology can aid us in the way we practice our religion.
Coming Shabbat dates
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Our next Shabbat morning services will be on the following dates:
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Saturday 6 April
Saturday 4 May
Saturday 1 June
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On the weeks when there is no Shabbat morning service, we have a talk and discussion about the week’s Torah portion on the Friday evening.
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The picture opposite shows a group of children from the community singing Adon Olam at a Shabbat service in 2014.
