Who loves her/his synagogue and why?
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Anonymous
OT has different Sat morning sections depending upon ages. Tot Shabbat is for 4 and under. It is run by the preschool teachers and they have 2-3 teenage babysitters. You can drop off at 18mo. If your little one needs a diaper change the director will find you in the sanctuary. If your little one is PT, since the teacher is a preschool teacher, she is well versed as noticing the dance signs. Somewhere between 4 and 5, kids move up to Shorashim (sp?). This is aimed at K-1. Then there is a group for 2nd and 3rd.--I think....we're only in K so I'm not sure on this point. If they don't have their own separate minyan, they would be combined into jr. congregation. 4th-6th and even some 7th graders attend Jr. Congregation. It is facilitator by a teacher, but the kids themselves lead minyan. They practice all the parts necessary for their bar/bat mitzvahs in a very supportive environment. What I love is that after minyan, everyone gathers for kiddish. That usually lasts 30-45 min. Then most people head outside to the playground to let the kids run around. It makes for a lovely shabbat morning that is stress free and fun for everyone. My child is in day school so I really can't comment on the Sun/Tuesday religious school. But, if you look in the class wing, you'll see lots and lots of arts and crafts. They do a lot of signing and dancing. They post you tube videos that look really fun. I know from my friends that their children look forward to attending religious school so it can't be that boring! |
Anonymous
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Magen David - Sephardic in Rockville near Whote Flint.
We are ashk and have previously gone the BI, but have some friends at MD and wanted to give it a try. Once you get used to the slightly different tunes in the service you will find its a fantastic place to go on Shabbat. |
jewishmom
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| Sort of on topic, but what do you love about your congregation? How old are your kids? |
Anonymous
| Any advice for an early-30s, inter-faith couple (I'm the Jewish partner--- Reform) without kids (yet), when considering whether to join a congregation, and which one to join? I have visited Temple Sinai and Temple Micah several times and liked them both lots, but it seems somehow a little bit silly to join a synagogue without kids. I know this sounds terrible, but I am really taken aback by how EXPENSIVE temple dues are--- very different than wheren I'm originally from. It just seems like such a commitment, which I am happy to make to be a member of a Jewish community that I really enjoy. However, it seems trickier to really fit in without children, and therefore difficult to know whether the community would be a good match. I'm rambling, I know, but any advice would be appreciated! |
Anonymous
| We also love Temple Emanuel in Kensington. Someone mentioned it being "hippy"....While it is down to earth and quite liberal, I certainly don't feel that it's over the top. I have to admit that we haven't been terribly impressed with the Tot Shabbat, but we have a young child and still love the Temple. |
Anonymous
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To the 3/21 poster if you happen to read this, I would still encourage you to join Micah. I am late 20s (spouse is early 30s) and we're an interfaith, childless, couple.
It is an investment to join a temple, and you can certainly go to Micah and the Next Dor activities if you don't join (they have a ticketless service for Rosh Hashana and another for Kol Nidre) but I felt like I wanted to support the temple and the work it does. Rabbi Lederman has been really welcoming to both of us (my non-Jewish spouse goes to some stuff without me if I'm not available!) and we've made some great friends. She emailed us and some other folks who live in my neighborhood when another Next Dor couple was moving to our area, and we now have a nice group for carpooling, dinners, helping each other out with petsitting and plant-watering, etc. And I wanted to feel settled in the congregation before we had kids, figuring we could meet some folks who might eventually have kids of similar ages. |
jindc
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If you check in here, I would recommend Bet Mishpachah - services are on Fridays at the DCJCC at 8PM (with Saturday services every other week). We attended because it was walkable from our apartment...then we joined....then my husband proposed to me there, and we still attend. Once we have our baby and we have religious school needs, I'll be sad to part with them. We pay the dues we can afford, no one bothers us about it - we didn't join right away, either, and attended regularly. It's very member-driven, no formal office staff or anything. You can participate as much or as little as you want. For a community as progressive as it is, services are very traditional. We are a straight couple and it's a gay-friendly congregation and have never felt out of place. There are interfaith couples and couples of all sorts. Give it a try! |
Anonymous
I felt a lot better about the expense after I spent time on the board and got to see the full unedited budget. It is very expensive to run a building. It is expensive to pay staff. It is expensive for those of us who can pay "full freight" because we want the community to be open to those who can't. The synagogue I attended in the Midwest also had lower fees -- too low, in fact, and eventually imploded because the rabbi really couldn't afford to live on what they were asking him to live on. |
Anonymous
What do you love about Temple Emanuel? |
Anonymous
| Rodef shalom in falls church is incredibly welcoming of interfaith families. My catholic MIL even enjoys services there. It feels like a community. |