If the repository is local, you should be using a URL like file:///home/userID/myrepository/java
To use the svn:// protocol you must have svnserve running. The URL would then be something like:
svn://localhost/myrepository/java
When you use the svn+ssh:// protocol, the SSH daemon starts and launches svnserve in --tunnel mode within the SSH session. So it does not need or use a normal svnserve daemon server that may be running.
FWIW, it would probably be a good idea to run svnserve, but that means you will also need to configure it. But I would not use file:// URL using SVNKit. If you use JavaHL exclusively, then it is fine, but I would not let SVNKit write directly to my repository. Even though they do a great job testing and maintaining compatibility it is just easier to run svnserve and let SVNKit talk to it via the protocol.