An outsider's perspective.

I am not Jewish, but I run a regular event once per week at Ohr Kodesh. We rent the social hall and have done so for about 10 years now. The administration and office staff are wonderful people. They work interactively with us on any issues or problems that we have and they have the perspective of solve the problem first and foremost. We interact with the kitchen team, the janitorial staff and have had nothing but good interactions with them. Over the last 30 years that I've been involved with my organizations, we have rented from probably 5-6 locations, OKC has been the best one. As I said they are supportive and interactive. If there is a problem they don't just cite the rules and tell us to comply, they talk to us and discuss the issues and what we need to do to comply. If we have issues we discuss with them how we can resolve the issue. They are one of the nicest facilities, both location and staff that we've rented from.

As for the preschool, I have twin 10 year olds and I have seen many of the adaptations for the classrooms, the facilities and and such for the children. I will say that the school seems very well provided for. They don't spare expenses to ensure comfort and support for the children. I only see the facilities after hours (our event is a weeknight evening event, so we are there after most everyone goes home from the preschool), but just from the facilities, I would say that they run a good program. Having shopped around many times over the years for my own children, looking at the facilities, I would be interested to interview the staff and find out more.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the observations. I wonder if they have enough families for a Hebrew school? Website says that they have one but perhaps like some other local synagogues, it's small. Seems unsual though, given that they have a big preschool!

We are looking to switch from Tifereth Israel precisely because OK has a much larger religious school - and is more pro-kid than TI which skews Boomer and anti-kid. The choices you make as a parent are different than those if you were joining a synagogue as an empty nester or single person. OK has a pretty good sized Hebrew school program. Yes, there are a lot of day school families and Israeli families who prefer MoEd to Hebrew school - but there are enough families with young kids to have a good-sized Hebrew school.

Thanks for the observations. I wonder if they have enough families for a Hebrew school? Website says that they have one but perhaps like some other local synagogues, it's small. Seems unsual though, given that they have a big preschool!

My observations are from pre-pandemic, probably a year after this initial thread began. I echo that observation that the members seemed to tilt conservadox/orthodox. Most women of young children I saw were wearing long sort of dowdy skirts and headcoverings, which is not something I was at all prepared for. I believe I was wearing nice slacks rather than a dress or skirt, in fact, and it was probably just in my mind but I thought everyone was staring at me. Everyone I spoke to said they kept Kosher at home as well, and again, we are likely on the low end of conservative observance not keeping Kosher, but I felt an immediate disconnect. Lots of day school families. Unlike the other poster, I saw kids completely running amok in the main sanctuary which was off-putting to me. Great if they're downstairs in their own program and taken care of; and fine if they're sitting quietly in the main sanctuary but not fond of kids running around unsupervised, including into the main lobby area.

Bumping this discussion. Any more recent information on the Ohr Kodesh for young families? TIA

OP here. Thanks for the responses. Interesting info about the religious school; it makes a lot of sense.

We are very far from Conservadox, but hopefully that's not a problem.

Interesting point the prior PP made about High Holiday services not really being representative. We'll have to give some of the Saturday morning Shabbat services at both places a spin.

I don't go to OKC, but I have friends who are very happy there.

I agree with the PP that a good number of members send their children to Jewish day schools in the area, especially CESJDS and MILTON. These children won't be attending a synagogue Hebrew school.

There's also MoEd located at OKC, which provides daily aftercare in a Jewish environment. Children go to MoEd from public school, Jewish day schools, and other private schools. Some families who choose public or non-Jewish private schools but use MoEd for aftercare may not send their children separately to a traditional Hebrew school. http://www.moedcommunity.org/#home

Anonymous wrote:Cannot recommend Share Torah enough. I recommend trying out a Shabbat there.

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

Anonymous wrote:Cannot recommend Share Torah enough. I recommend trying out a Shabbat there.

I'm really just looking for thoughts on Ohr Kodesh from members there. Thanks though.

Cannot recommend Share Torah enough. I recommend trying out a Shabbat there.

Anonymous wrote:Have you tried Tifereth Israel? We joined there and like it. If you want a more traditional, large schul feel, Bnai Israel.

Thanks. We are looking for something close to our house, thinking ahead to pickup from Hebrew school and such. Both Beth El and Ohr Kodesh are within a 2 mile/10 minute drive. Not willing to cross into DC as the traffic will make it unworkable on a weekday for us.

Have you tried Tifereth Israel? We joined there and like it. If you want a more traditional, large schul feel, Bnai Israel.

Anyone here belong to Ohr Kodesh? Do you have young kids in the Hebrew school there? We are shul shopping with intent to join a Conservative shul by next fall and send our preschooler to the Hebrew school when he enters kindergarten next year. We've attended Beth El High Holiday services for years on the "youth" ticket and love the services, but I've never felt like we fit in to the community that well, for whatever reason. This year we went to Ohr Kodesh for Rosh Hashanah and liked it. It seemed like a much homier, simpler, smaller place. The services weren't as flashy or innovative but they were fine. The people seemed down to earth.

They kept saying how the religious school has doubled in size and is now up to 50 kids. Which seems extraordinarily small to me, though that may not be a bad thing. And I know the curriculum is somewhat non-traditional; also maybe not a bad thing, given that every kid I've ever known has hated traditional Hebrew school. I would love to hear about people's experiences with the school, if you can share. Would also love any thoughts on the synagogue community, membership, anything to know, etc. (I saw a lot of folks our age -- mid-late 30s -- and a lot of people in their late 70s and older, but not so many in their 40s-60s, whom I assume would be the mainstays of the congregation in terms of monetary and community support. Thought that was interesting. Maybe just poor observational skills?)

Thanks in advance and shanah tovah!