The ACT Jewish Community welcomes all Jewish people to Canberra and encourages you to join our community and enjoy a diverse range of religious, educational, cultural and social activities.  

The community currently has around 200 membership units and hosts a number of groups interested in social activities, Jewish history, Jewish films, music, books and cooking. There are also specific activities for men and women. We have a particular focus on youth education provided by our professional staff that caters to tots, tweens, teens and youth.  We also offer a number of adult education programs delivered by our Rabbi. All education programs are organised on a semester basis.

We are located in the centre of Canberra, adjacent to the Parliament triangle.  Our community was founded in the 1950s. The National Jewish Memorial Centre was opened in 1971.

We are home to an Orthodox and a Progressive Congregation each of which holds weekly services. Please check our calendar for times and dates by clicking here.

We also partner with a number of peak national Jewish organisations including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, National Council of Jewish Women's Association, the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Federal Association of Australian Jewish Ex-Service Men and Women.  We are a founding member of the NSW Jewish Communal Appeal. We are supported by JewishCare NSW in providing non-medical health support in the areas of Children and Family, Mental Health, Disability, Aged Care and Holocaust survivors.

We would love to answer any of your questions about the wide variety of events and programs we offer. 

Please contact the office at actadmin@actjc.org.au or by phone on 02 6295 1052

We encourage members of the public, including school and social groups, to view our cultural collections.  

The viewing hours for the Library, Museum and Art Gallery are between 10am and 3pm, Monday to Thursday, except on Jewish holy days. 

Groups are asked to contact the office (actadmin@actjc.org.au) to arrange a guided tour and discuss options.  We have special tours for school groups.

Our Collections

The Earle Hoffman Library consists of over one thousand books covering historical, cultural and religious material on Judaism and Jewish people. The Library collection has a particular focus on the Australian Jewish cultural experience. An online catalogue can be viewed here.

Our Museum collection includes torah scrolls, religious artefacts and nationally significant Judaica gifted to the community by the Commonwealth of Australia. 

Our Gallery of Art Works includes portraits of notable Jews in politics and the arts, and artistic depictions of Jewish themes or of Israel in various genre.

Please note access is currently subject to building works.

Our collections will be rehoused in the new building once stage two of the project is completed.

Annual JCA Fundraising Campaign

We thank everyone who contributed so generously to the 2018 Jewish Communal Appeal Telethon on Sunday 27 May.

Board members are in the process of following up those of our members who were not available on Sunday.

Our donations are sent to the Jewish Communal Appeal. For every $1 donated from our community, we have received funding of $2 or more through the JCA allocation process. JCA’s allocation is the most important source of funds for our educational, youth, communal, and social programs.

In recent years, we have received approximately $200,000 from the JCA.

In order to maintain the scope and quality of our programs, we hope to raise half of that amount ($100,000) from our members this year.

All donations are tax deductible.

If you have not yet pledged an amount to our campaign, you can do so by calling or emailing the office. You will then be sent an invoice by the JCA to enable your payment direct to JCA before 30 June. Your tax deductible receipt will be provided once your payment has been processed.