About Us

About Hillel House

Hillel House, situated in the pleasant, leafy suburb of Edgbaston, provides kosher accommodation for Jewish students in Birmingham under the auspices of a local Jewish management committee. Everyone involved is a volunteer and generously gives their time to ensure that Birmingham Hillel House is a great place for Jewish students to live whilst studying in Birmingham.

Members of the Management Committee

Chair: Keith Rowe, Treasurer: Amanda Georgevic, House Committee Chair: Ruth Jacobs, Accommodations: Sandra Lipkin and Ruth Jacobs, Chaplain: Rabbi Fishel Cohen,
Minutes Secretary: Michael Novak, Trustees: Harvey Brown, Brian Cooper, Leonard Jacobs

Buildings

In the Main House there are 14 individual self catering residential units located on two upstairs floors accessed by two separate staircases. The first floor is a mixed floor comprising 2 superior ensuite rooms, 3 large and 4 standard rooms, with 2 showers and 2 toilets. The second floor, a boys only floor, has 2 superior ensuite rooms, I ensuite room with 2 large rooms both of which share a shower and toilet. Freezers are available on both floors for residents’ use.

Jacey is a purpose built residential block of three floors providing individual self catering accommodation for 18 residents. The ground and first floor has superior ensuite and ensuite rooms. The top floor comprises three superior ensuites together with four standard rooms for which there are two showers and two toilets. The middle and top floor are girls only floors and the ground floor is allocated to boys. Freezers are available on all floors for residents’ use.

The Lodge is a two bedroomed small house at the side of the Main House with a living room, kitchen and shower room /toilet, and attached to it, is the Annex which is a superior ensuite room with self catering facilities.

Facilities

High speed wifi at no extra charge.
Parking for a limited number of cars in the carpark is also available free of charge on a first come, first served basis.
Laundry facilities (for residents only) with 2 washing machines and 2 dryers (at no extra cost to use).
A large communal lounge with couches and other seating, with a large flat screen TV fitted with Sky HD (with sports and many other channels), a baby grand piano and a large table tennis table.
A large dining /meeting room (which can include the lounge if needed) for Friday night dinners organised and prepared by JSoc. Meetings and other events also take place in this space.
A smaller meeting room with a library of Jewish and secular books, study facilities which is used as a shul on Friday nights.
The supervised kosher kitchen used for Friday night dinners and other catered events.
Cloakrooms with facilities for the disabled.
Cleaning: the recreational rooms, common areas and communal bathrooms/toilets are cleaned twice weekly in the Main House and Jacey. Residents are responsible for cleaning their own rooms.
Birmingham Hillel House is pleased to enable Birmingham’s JSoc, one of the largest and most active in the country to have events and activities at Hillel, including weekly Friday night meals, parties on Jewish festivals, guest speakers. More information about JSoc can be obtained from here.

The Main House, a large converted Edwardian House, contains the recreational and laundry facilities on the ground floor, the supervised kosher kitchen used for Friday night dinners and other catered events and cloakrooms with facilities for the disabled. The recreational rooms open up into each other or can be closed for a more cosy atmosphere.

They include a large communal lounge with couches and other seating, a large flat screen TV fitted with Sky HD (with sports and many other channels) and a grand piano. There is also a large table tennis table. In the large dining room (and if the numbers require it, also in the lounge area) Friday night dinners organised and prepared by JSoc are held. Meetings and other events also take place in this space.

Birmingham Hillel House is pleased to enable Birmingham’s JSoc, one of the largest and most active in the country to have events and activities at Hillel, including weekly Friday night meals, parties on Jewish festivals, guest speakers. More information about JSoc can be found here.

Separate to this on the ground floor, there is a library/ study room which also doubles up as a synagogue and the laundry room (for residents only) which has 2 washing machines and 2 dryers (at no extra cost to use). There is a large garden at the back of the house.

High speed wifi is included in the rent. Parking for a limited number of cars in the carpark is also available free of charge on a first come, first served basis. The recreational rooms, common areas and bathrooms/toilets are cleaned twice weekly in the Main House and Jacey. Residents in ensuite rooms have to do their own cleaning.

Neighbourhood

The University of Birmingham campus is a mere 10-minute walk away whilst Aston University and Birmingham City University can be reached by bus in approximately half an hour, or by train from University Station.

The Selly Oak and Harborne shopping centres are each within easy walking distance – Harborne within 10 minutes, and Selly Oak in under half an hour.

Hillel House set in just under an acre of grounds comprises three buildings: the Main House, Jacey and the Lodge/Annex.

Events run by JSoc, Chaplaincy, Aish and other visiting groups at Hillel provide a warm sociable environment for all students (Hillel residents and non residents), regardless of their level of observance.

There are two Orthodox synagogues – Singers Hill and Central United Synagogue and one Progressive synagogue in Birmingham. There is a kosher Deli located at Central United Synagogue as well as some kosher food available at Sainsburys Selly Oak, Waitrose Harborne, Tesco Spring Hill, and Morrisons Edgbaston.

Further information about the Birmingham Jewish community and the facilities on offer can be found at recorder.org.uk (and click on Visitors).