java -jar ~/clojure.jar will give you a REPL. It will be a less convenient REPL though. In particular:

* No history support. Try to use the arrow to go back to the previous instruction and you'll be greeted by ^[[A.

* No tab completion.

* No exit function.

* No startup file with your customizations.

* No clojure.contrib automatically in your classhpath.

* No simple way to automatically place a list of jars for a given project in the classpath by simply specifying them in a file.

java -jar ~/clojure.jar will do. But this, I believe, is nicer.