Young Israel Shomrai Emunah

Young Israel Shomrai Emunah (YISE) is an Orthodox synagogue located in Kemp Mill,[2][3] Montgomery County, Maryland. It was the first Orthodox synagogue established in Montgomery County[4] It is also one of the largest Orthodox synagogues in Maryland and is recognized as a key synagogue in the Silver Spring, Maryland area.[5]

Young Israel Shomrai Emunah
Religion
AffiliationOrthodox Judaism
StatusActive
Location
Location1132 Arcola Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20902
Location within Maryland
Geographic coordinates39.040972°N 77.029167°W / 39.040972; -77.029167
Architecture
TypeSynagogue
Completed1960[1]
Interior area19,158 sq ft[1]
Website
www.yise.org

Functions and services

The synagogue provides a full range of religious and social services, such a nursery school,[6] banquet hall for weddings,[7] prayer services for Sephardi Jews,[8] assistance with job hunting,[9] notable guest speakers from the Jewish world, such as a Silver Spring native Lazer Brody who joined the Breslov Hasidim.[10] Young Israel has seven different services going on each Shabbat (Saturday) morning, everything from a minyan in the Sephardi tradition to one for early risers. All those services are still under the same roof.

Affiliations and associations

The synagogue is affiliated with the National Council of Young Israel.[11][12] The synagogue has sponsored Jewish educational activities with other local Orthodox institutions such as The Greater Washington Community Kollel.[13] It offers a variety of programs such as for senior citizens in conjunction with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington.[14] It is also affiliated with the JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council) of Greater Washington.[15]

For environmentalists it has co-hosted programs with the Canfei Nesharim organization that provides: "a Torah based approach to understand and act on the relationship between traditional Jewish sources and modern environmental issues[16]...which explores environmentalism through the lens of Halacha (Jewish law) and traditional Jewish sources. The new initiative is known as Maayan Olam: the Silver Spring Torah and Environmental Group... endorsed by the Silver Spring Orthodox congregations Young Israel-Shomrai Emunah, Kemp Mill Synagogue."[17]

History

Origins

Congregation Shomrai Emunah was established in 1951 when several Jewish individuals formed a worship group in Chillum, Maryland.[18] Rabbi Abraham A. Kellner was the first spiritual adviser.[18][19]

Services were originally held in members' homes.[18] Later on, the congregation held services in a Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge,[20] and then used rented space at Chillum Castle at Chillum and Riggs roads that was owned by a Masonic lodge.[18]

In 1955, Congregation Shomrai Emunah began raising $75,000 of funds to build its own synagogue.[19][21] Land on the Maryland side of Eastern Avenue near Oglethorpe Road was purchased,[21] and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 12, 1957.[19] Approximately one-hundred families were members of Congregation Shomrai Emunah at the time.[19]

The synagogue was dedicated on December 22, 1957.[22] Rabbi Gedaliah Anemer led the ceremony, having become Shomrai Emunah's spiritual leader earlier that year.[23]

Montgomery County

In the early 1960s, there was a trend of residents moving further into suburbs of Washington, D.C.[24] With many of its members no longer living within walking distance to Shomrai Emunah's synagogue, attendance on Shabbat decreased significantly.[24]

Rabbi Anemer bought a house near Kemp Mill, Maryland, and he began holding Shabbat services there every other week.[24] When attendance at Rabbi Anemer's home quickly became too large for the space, Shomrai Emunah built a new synagogue on nearby University Boulevard.[25][24] Orthodox Jewish congregation in Montgomery County.[25][26][27] Shomrai Emunah later started another service at a member's home in the Montgomery Knolls area of Silver Spring.[24]

Further growth

By the late 1960s, the synagogue's membership outgrew the synagogue in Kemp Mill, so its membership raised funds to build a second, larger building in Kemp Mill.

Rabbi Anemer established a religious school for girls in 1964.[28] A religious school for boys opened the following year.[28]

On April 29, 1973, Shomrai Emunah held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new synagogue at Arcola Avenue and Lamberton Drive in Kemp Mill.[29] The synagogue opened the following year.[28]

New rabbi

After 52 years of holding the position of rabbi, Rabbi Anemer died on April 15, 2010.[27][30] He was succeeded by Rabbi Dovid Rosenbaum,[28] who was officially installed on November 20, 2010.[31]

Notable congregants

See also

References
  1. "1132 Arcola Ave Silver Spring MD 20902". Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Accessed on March 29, 2016.
  2. washingtonexaminer.com, Tightly knit Kemp Mill: "Kemp Mill, which some have said has the largest Orthodox Jewish population on the East Coast between Baltimore and Miami, also is home to the Young Israel Shomrai Emunah, Silver Spring Jewish Center, Kemp Mill Synagogue and Chabad of Silver Spring."
  3. washingtonpost.com, An Orthodox Destination Religion Draws Some to Kemp Mills: "Kemp Mill has probably the largest Orthodox population in Montgomery County.... Kemp Mill has been a destination for Orthodox Jews since 1961, when the Young Israel Shomrai Emunah synagogue relocated to the leafy suburb from Washington. 'There was no Orthodox community until we moved out here,' recalled Gedaliah Anemer, senior rabbi at Shomrai Emunah. 'We started having services in my house. A small synagogue was built a year later.'"
  4. Leibel, Aaron (21 April 2010). "Gedaliah Anemer, YISE rabbi, Yeshiva founder". Washington Jewish Week.
  5. jewishsilverspring.org, Local Synagogues and Day Schools
  6. nursery.yise.org, YISE Nursery
  7. chossonandkallah.com, Jewish Wedding Halls in Maryland
  8. americansephardifederation.org: "Young Israel Shomrai Emunah, Sephardic Minyan... Rabbi Yehoshua Levy."
  9. jobassist.org, About JobAssist.org " Kemp Mill Jewish community in Washington, DC...The rabbinic and lay leadership of the area's three shuls, Young Israel Shomrai Emunah, Kemp Mill Synagogue, and Silver Spring Jewish Center, have enthusiastically endorsed...the Kemp Mill Employment Assistance Initiative."
  10. washingtonjewishweek.com: "Now, almost 30 years later, an ordained rabbi and member of the Breslev chasidic group, Brody will come home to Silver Spring to speak next week at the Orthodox Young Israel Shomrai Emunah...Born in Washington, D.C., in 1949, he grew up in Silver Spring, becoming bar mitzvah at the Conservative Congregation Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim.... Rabbi Lazer Brody will speak at Young Israel Shomrei Emunah on Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. on the topic 'The Silver Spring of Emunah & The Golden Wall of Bitachon.'"
  11. NCYI affiliate events
  12. NCYI affiliate events
  13. gwckollel.com/programs: "In conjunction with the Young Israel Shomrai Emunah Education Committee, there will be a special lecture given on February 6, 2011, at 9:30 a.m. at Young Israel Shomrai Emunah, by Rabbi Yitzchak Charner, Headmaster of The Torah School of Greater Washington."
  14. jccgw.org, Satellite Programs
  15. jcouncil.org, Constituent Organizations
  16. canfeinesharim.org, Organizational Purpose
  17. canfeinesharim.org, Nature of the Torah: New ecology initiative hits the ground walking
  18. "Riggs Park Congregation Plans for Own Building". The Washington Post. October 14, 1955. p. 62.
  19. "Congregation To Start New Synagogue". The Washington Post. May 10, 1957. p. A15.
  20. "Joint Service By Rabbi of Temple Sinai". The Washington Post. July 16, 1954. p. 24.
  21. "Riggs Park Congregation Plans for Own Building". The Washington Post. October 14, 1955. p. 62.
  22. "Synagogue to Be Dedicated Sunday". The Washington Post. December 20, 1957. p. B4.
  23. "Gedaliah Anemer, YISE rabbi, Yeshiva founder". Washington Jewish Week. April 21, 2010.
  24. Dole, Kenneth. "Flight to Suburbs Fails To Daunt Urban Rabbi". The Washington Post. March 14, 1964. p. D6.
  25. "Jews' Year 5724 Starts On Wednesday Evening: Ram's Horn to Sound". The Washington Post. September 14, 1963. p. D21.
  26. Rathner, Janet Lubman. "An Orthodox Destination Religion Draws Some to Kemp Mills". The Washington Post. October 15, 2005.
  27. Bernstein, Dovid. "Rav Gedaliah Anemer zt”l". Matzav.com. April 15, 2010.
  28. Schudel, Matt. "Rabbi led large Orthodox Jewish enclave". The Washington Post. April 29, 2010. p. B7.
  29. "Services Set To Mark New Facilities". The Washington Post. April 27, 1973. p. B8.
  30. "Levaya Of HaRav Gedaliah HaKohen Anemer ZATZAL". The Yeshiva World News. April 15, 2010.
  31. "YISE dinner to honor rabbi". Washington Jewish Week. November 11, 2010. p. 37.
  32. washingtonpost.com, Obituaries
  33. washingtonpost.com, Obituary, cont; "He was a member of Young Israel Shomrai Emunah synagogue in Silver Spring."
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