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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Cannot recommend Share Torah enough.  I recommend trying out a Shabbat there.[/quote]

Share Torah is in Gaithersburg.  This poster said she's looking at Beth El and OKC which would mean she lives in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring area.  Share Torah, while a great congregation, is probably too far to commute for hebrew school during the week.

OP---I used to be a member of OKC and I loved it.  It is a wonderful, warm, welcoming shabbat community.  I think you hit on the essence of the shul---it's a small, comfortable, family oriented shul.  On shabbat, kids can go downstairs to an age appropriate shabbat service or they can stay in the main sanctuary with their parents.  There is a box of books and quiet toys by the last row.  By the time aleniu is chanted, it is not uncommon to see young children quietly reading and playing at the feet of their parents.  My favorite shabbat activity was playing on the playground after the oneg.  It was a great place to meet other parents with young children.  My kids loved the kids shabbat services and the candy man in shul.  Yes, there is a man who attends every week and in his tallis bag are lollipops for the kids.  We moved closer to Rockville and have since joined Bnai since OKC is no longer walkable for us.

OKC leans conservadox and many people are shomer shabos.  A lot of people also send their kids to day school which means they are not using the hebrew/Sunday school.

My friends there with elem kids in public have ended up enrolling their kids at hebrew schools at other shuls because at the time, the hebrew school didn't have enough kids. It sounds like the school is growing though so that is probably changing.  As you noted, it is a non traditional curriculum.  For my more traditional friends, this was not something they were interested in.  They also wanted adult educators rather than high school teachers.  HS kids bring an excitement and connection to kids that adults can't but they also don't have the experience managing a classroom that an adult would have.  If nothing else, it's something to ask the shul about---what is the teaching experience of the Sunday/Hebrew school teachers.

Beth El is very similar to Bnai.  They are both very big synagogues.  High Holiday services there are overwhelming.  I go to shul most shabbats and on Monday was thinking how much I disklike HH services at Bnai.  They are big and impersonal.  OKC is much warmer on the HH.  But on every other shabbat, when the sanctuary is not overflowing and there are not multiple services, I love bnai.  My point is, the feeling you get at Beth El on HH may not be the feeling of the shul throughout the year.

I don't think you can go wrong by joining either shul.  Both are wonderful communities.  And if you join and find that it's not what you're looking for, you can change shuls.

l'shana tov[/quote]

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