About JSCN

Our Four Pillars

Bringing People Together

Empowering Leadership

Building Community

Combating Hate &
Supporting Inclusion

Our Vision

Passionate and informed community-connected adults, exercising leadership to make progress on the challenges facing small communities, being supported within the network of British Jewry.

Our Mission

To serve as a robust and integrated pipeline;
Connecting people & communities, 
cultivating and supporting leadership that builds Jewish communal capacity,
and advocating for their issues.

Our Theory of Change

Giving our communities the tools to make a difference is key to enriching and impacting Jewish community and inter-communal life.

Who We Work With

We work nationally with all faiths and none, individuals, communities, organisations, statutory bodies and political representatives, in relation to life in small Jewish communities and Jewish people living remotely

Praise from our funders...

It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you and your team on your project, and I wish you all the very best in its future success. You’re providing invaluable support to the many small Jewish communities within England at a vitally important time. Your work with other faith groups, and groups within non-Jewish communities, is also of prime importance. ~ Fund Manager, The National Lottery Aug 2025

OVERVIEWWHAT WE DO

Jewish Small Communities Network is a charity registered in 2016, with its roots as a project founded in 2003.

We serve and advocate for 100 small Jewish communities across 72 towns and remote families around the UK that fall outside the main Jewish conurbations of London, Manchester and Leeds. This represents around 65,000 people, or 25% of the UK Jewish population.

JSCN brings people together to share experiences and ideas; promotes resilience through enriching leadership; and works to connect Jews to the support they deserve, enabling them to lead a rich Jewish life wherever they live.

To do this, JSCN collaborates with a wide range of Jewish and non-Jewish organisations and statutory bodies, along with those of all different faiths or none.

We are an open door for anyone who needs help with anything to do with small Jewish communities.

We are the missing jigsaw piece between communities, individuals and organisations.

We bring people together, bring communities together, and bring the Jewish experience to a wider non-Jewish world.

JSCN operates as a bridge for those needing to access smaller Jewish communities across the UK.

We also provide a platform for small Jewish communities wishing to reach wider audience.

In addition JSCN provides a number of information resources which would be helpful to this audience.

How we do it

JSCN delivers this through a number of channels: its website, email newsletters, audio streaming, social media etc.

We act predominantly as a bureau or network, where necessary signposting enquiries to the appropriate communities or specialist organisations.

We work with over 100 Congregations and Communities in around 80 geographic areas.

Why we do it

Community without 'togetherness' is something of a contradiction.
We seek to bring the community of small communities together, to make it more inclusive within both the Jewish community and the wider UK community.
Sharing experiences, best practice, and ways to contact one another can improve the foundations on which our society is laid.

Open door

JSCN provides an inclusive, non-judgemental and non-denominational environment where you can safely seek information.

Community Engagement

We are currently developing a series of meetings, bringing regional communities together.

Heritage & Document

In addition we are creating parallel projects to record the histories of communities, and to document them as they are today.

Working on multiple levels

JSCN works with... individuals, communities, Regional Jewish community bodies, local & national Jewish organisations, plus European and other International charities and groups.

Charitable Objects

To advance the Jewish faith for the public benefit by:
a) providing information & advice to enable members of Jewish small communities to practice & live within the faith; b) relieving need related to ill health & disability in Jewish small communities and others; c) advancing education in Jewish history and culture; d) promoting the elimination of antisemitism and education about antisemitism.

 

OUR TEAM

Chief Executive

Ed Horwich Chief Executive Jewish Small Communities Network

Ed Horwich is Chief Executive and creator of Jewish Small Communities Network. He is a commentator and activist for small Jewish communities in the UK.

As well as serving community needs, Ed advises fellow organisations, statutory bodies, civil servants and others about Jewish small communities.

He was raised in Southport, on the Lancashire seaside, a town whose Jewish population of 4,500 in the 1950-60’s had declined to 300 by the late 1990s.

Ed has had a life long career as a photographer, but he has also played a leading role in other programmes. In his early thirties he ran a Business Mentoring programme under the auspices of the Department of Trade and Industry. He served on the IT  Executive of the Merseyside Development Corporation, and on the management board of the Association of Photographers. He founded project management company Pacificstream, becoming its EU director,  spearheading collaborative education pilot projects across Europe. On his move to Manchester he became a broadcaster on BBC Radio community programmes.

Since the mid 2000s he's been sucked into community life, serving on the management and executive of two synagogues. He has been championing Jewish small communities for the greater part of the twenty-first century, and his full time day job is now CEO of the charity he created, Jewish Small Communities Network.

Dana Kahn community and projects coordinator at JSCNCommunity & Projects Coordinator

Dana Kahn works alongside Ed to coordinate and implement our projects and communications.

Advisory Council

Members of our advisory council are specialist volunteers who bring their skills from a wide range of community and professional backgrounds.
Often their roles extend well beyond advisory into proactive project and application writing and implementation.

Communities Council

This is how Foundation Communities have an ongoing say in the work of JSCN.
Each community is entitled to a seat on the Council, which meets twice a year to discuss what JSCN has done and giver its input into JSCN's future plans.

[Foundation Communities are those which make a commitment by signing up to our Charter and pay an annual subscription]

Trustees

Martin Sluckis | Anne Goldstein | Derek Blank | Robert Evans

JLC Council Member

Eddy Arram represents JSCN at council meetings of the Jewish Leadership Council.
He served as a councillor in Croydon for 33 years, becoming its Mayor in 2012-13. He was additionally appointed to the London Regional Arts Council and the management board of the Southeast Probation Services. The Secretary of State for Culture appointed him to the Commission for Libraries and Information. As a young man he volunteered to go to Israel during the 6-Day War and went on to live there for two further years. Professionally he began his career in law but changed course to be facilities manager in a number of settings including for the Royal College of Nursing and United synagogues. He has also volunteered widely including as a JLGB youth leader, State and Academy school governorships, Police custody support for minors and vulnerable adults, befriending isolated adults, and Catford & Bromley representative on United Synagogue Council.

He is currently Chairman of Catford & Bromley Synagogue.

Volunteers

Community based volunteers around the country help us in numerous ways, by reaching out, by sharing our vision, by being the JSCN representative at events, and as educators taking away the mystery and myths about being Jewish, countering stereotypes, building lasting bridges and combating antisemitism.

Working with other communal organisations 
JSCN collaborates/participates with:-
Board of Deputies
Jewish Leadership Council
Office of the Chief Rabbi
Progressive Judaism
Masorti Judaism
Chabad
Misaskim
the FED (Manchester Jewish Services)
Jewish Care
- We can work with you too.
Please get in touch.JSCN operates as a bridge for those needing to access smaller Jewish communities across the UK.

We also provide a platform for small Jewish communities wishing to reach wider audience.

In addition JSCN provides a number of information resources which would be helpful to this audience.

Contact JSCN: general enquiries
NOTE:
This contact form goes to the JSCN national office, NOT to an individual synagogue or community.
RESPONSE TIME:
Our office is manned part-time, however we will get back to you as soon as we can.
We cannot respond on Shabbat or other Jewish festivals
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