Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah (abbreviated as BSCTT) is a

Modern Orthodox Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

on Seven Locks Road in Potomac,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, in the United States. The largest

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

synagogue in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

, it is led by

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Nissan Antine.

Religious services and programs

Beth Sholom Congregation holds morning and evening

tefillah Jewish prayer (, ; plural ; , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the '' ...

services,

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

services,

High Holidays In Judaism, the High Holy Days, also known as High Holidays or Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim; , ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm'') consist of: #strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year") and Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"); #by extension, th ...

services, and

Shalosh Regalim The Three Pilgrimage Festivals or Three Pilgrim Festivals, sometimes known in English by their Hebrew name ''Shalosh Regalim'' (, or ), are three major festivals in Judaism—two in spring; Passover, 49 days later Shavuot (literally 'weeks', or '' ...

services.Services
". ''Beth Sholom Congregation''. Retrieved November 17, 2016. Beth Sholom Congregation hosts adult education classes and study groups. The congregation has a men's club, a sisterhood, and a social action committee. Beth Sholom hosts classes for school-age children and teenagers as well. while Beth Sholom Early Childhood Center has classes for younger children.

Leadership

Antine became Beth Sholom's assistant in 2006Levin, Adam; Schilit, Amy.
Clergy take posts in Greater Washington
. ''Washington Jewish Week''. September 14, 2006. p. 27–30. and was promoted to senior rabbi in July 2013, replacing Joel Tessler.Pollak, Suzanne.
Beth Sholom to honor its senior rabbi in waiting
. ''Washington Jewish Week''. April 26, 2012. p. 8.

Maharat Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which is the first Orthodox-affiliated yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word ''Maharat'' () is a Hebrew acronym for phrase ''manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Tor ...

Hadas Fruchter served as the assistant spiritual leader of Beth Sholom Congregation from 2016Holzel, David.
Just don't call her rabbi: D.C. soon to get 2nd 'maharat'
. ''Washington Jewish Week''. March 10, 2016. p. 1, 25. through 2019.

History

Origins

The congregation was founded in 1908 as Voliner Anshe Sfard. It initially worshiped in a congregant's house, but soon purchased a store and remodeled it as a synagogue building, with separate men and women sections. Within just a few years of its creation, the congregation had bought its own cemetery. The Voliner Anshe Sfard Congregation joined with the Har Zion CongregationNew Synagogue's Stone to Be Laid
. ''The Washington Post''. January 21, 1938. p. X9. in 1936 under the name Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah, complete with its own

Hebrew school Hebrew school is Jewish education focusing on topics of Jewish history, learning the Hebrew language, and finally learning one's Torah Portion, in preparation for the ceremony in Judaism of entering adulthood, known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Heb ...

. Two years later, the combined congregation spent $100,000 on a new building. The new building, located at Eighth and Shepherd streets in

Petworth, Washington, D.C. Petworth is a Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest_(Washington,_D.C.), Northwest D.C. While largely residential, Petworth is home to a notable commercial corridor of shops and restaurants, pri ...

, was dedicated on August 14, 1938, and served the community for 18 years.

Shepherd Park

The congregation sold the Eighth and Shepherd building to the Allegheny Conference Association of

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabba ...

and moved out of the building on December 24, 1954.Beth Sholom Moves
. ''The Washington Post''. December 28, 1956. p. A8. The congregation temporarily moved to a former bank building at Alaska and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

avenues in

Shepherd Park Shepherd Park is a neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. In the years following World War II, restrictive covenants which had prevented Jews and African Americans from purchasing homes in the neighborhood were no longer enfo ...

, and religious classes were temporarily held at Sixteenth Street and Fort Stevens Drive NW in Brightwood, while it built a new building at Thirteenth Street and Eastern Avenue NW in Shepherd Park. Construction of the new building on Eastern Avenue cost $900,000. The congregation held its first religious services in the new building on September 14, 1954.2 Synagogue Dedications Set
. ''The Washington Post''. September 13, 1957. p. D2. The new building had seating for 2,000 worshippers. At one point, the

had more than 400 students.

Potomac

By 1975, many of the members of the congregation had moved to

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...

, and only one-fifth of the seats in the sanctuary were filled for

services.Johnson, Janis.
D.C. Synagogues Survive by Using Branch Facilities: Synagogues Survive with Branch Units
. ''The Washington Post''. July 25, 1977. p. A1. The congregation's leadership decided to build a chapel and a religious school on Seven Locks Road in Potomac. It was considered a branch synagogue. The new location in Potomac worked out; the congregation's membership increased by ten percent, and the religious school's enrollment increased ten-fold. In the late 1980s, Beth Sholom was principally responsible for the construction of a two-mile-long

eruv An ''eruv'' (; , , also transliterated as ''eiruv'' or ''erub'', plural: ''eruvin'' or ''eruvim'') is a ritual ''halakhic'' enclosure made for the purpose of allowing activities which are normally Activities prohibited on Shabbat, prohibited ...

in Potomac that made it permissible for observant Orthodox Jews to carry and push objects within the boundaries area on

, leading to the growth of the Orthodox population in the area. In order to accommodate its large community, the congregation constructed a new building on the Potomac site in 1994. In 1999, the second phase of the building was completed. In 2005, the synagogue became the first Orthodox congregation in Washington to elect a woman as president of the congregation. As of 2012, the congregation numbered more than four-hundred families.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Sholom Congregation And Talmud Torah 1908 establishments in Maryland Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Maryland Ashkenazi synagogues in the United States Modern Orthodox synagogues in Maryland 20th-century synagogues in the United States Potomac, Maryland Jewish organizations established in 1908 Sephardi Jewish culture in Maryland Sephardi synagogues in the United States Shepherd Park Synagogues in Montgomery County, Maryland Synagogues completed in 1994 Synagogues completed in 1999 Synagogues in Maryland