The Oxford Jewish Congregation is a unique synagogue, and one which other English synagogues can learn from. For a start, it hosts a mix of religious denominations – we were there for an Orthodox Shabbat service, but Masorti and Liberal groups also meet under the same roof.
The community finds plenty of common ground when they come together for Kiddush after the service. Also, it's not too formal – the much-loved president, Simon Ryde, stood up and told a joke we wouldn't dare print in a family newspaper.
Admittedly, the only reason he gets away with it is because the community chooses not to employ a Rabbi. Instead it gains its sense of spiritual direction by having an extremely well-educated and devoted lay community, supplemented by students during university terms and by scholars from the nearby Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.
Services have lots of nice touches, like a children's blessing, and a prayer for Israel's captured soldiers.