Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah was formed in 1936 by the merger of two small Orthodox congregations.
In 1936, Voliner Anshe Sfard, founded in 1908 on 4 ½ Street in Southwest, merged with Har Zion Congregation, created in 1920 along the Georgia Avenue corridor in Petworth. When the new congregation incorporated in 1936, it adopted the name Beth Sholom (House of Peace) to symbolize the peaceful relations that brought them together.
Two years later, the new congregation dedicated a synagogue at 8th and Shepherd Streets, NW. They remained there for eighteen years. In 1956, the synagogue followed its membership farther north. Beth Sholom completed a new building at 13th Street and Eastern Avenue, NW, in 1958
Beth Sholom’s move to suburban Maryland occurred in phases. In 1972, the congregation broke ground for a Hebrew school and a small chapel on a 3.3-acre site on Seven Locks Road in Potomac. Families followed and attendance at the Potomac site increased. While the congregation grew in Potomac, Beth Sholom also maintained a Washington location for those who remained in the Eastern Avenue neighborhood.
Stages of renovation and building over twenty-five years have resulted in an expansive modern facility that now accommodates more than 500 families in this thriving modern Orthodox community.
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1. Eighth and Shepherd Streets, NW
Designed by George T. Santmyers, the synagogue’s large structure, arched windows, and flat surface ornamentation are characteristic of synagogues built between the wars. This building housed Beth Sholom from 1938 to 1956.
Photographs by Jeremy GoldbergShow on map
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2. Eighth and Shepherd Streets, NW, front view
Designed by George T. Santmyers, the synagogue’s large structure, arched windows, and flat surface ornamentation are characteristic of synagogues built between the wars. This building housed Beth Sholom from 1938 to 1956.
Photographs by Jeremy Goldberg
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3. Confirmation Class, Talmud Torah, Eighth and Shepherd Streets, NW, c. 1953
EigEva Kasmer, President of the Ladies Auxiliary, stands at the lectern. Congregation representatives, back row, from left to right, are Rabbi Harry J. Kaufman, President Morris Fox, PTA President Sarah Glick, Vice President Julius Goode, and Cantor Sholom Katz. In the front row, left to right, are Isadore Feldman, Talmud Torah Chairman, and Morris H. Kaminetzky, Principal.
Beth Sholom Collections
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4. 13th Street and Eastern Avenue, NW
Designed by architects Daumit & Sargent and completed in 1958, the synagogue’s exterior features iconic Jewish symbols and the sweeping lines of many large synagogues built in the 1950s.
Photograph by Jeremy GoldbergShow on map
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5. Beth Sholom, Potomac, Maryland
Levin/Brown and Associates, one of America’s leading synagogue design firms, were the architects for Beth Sholom’s most recent renovations, completed in 2000. Additions in the 1970s and 1980s expanded the Potomac site from a single building, the William and Stella Robinowitz Hebrew School, into a large synagogue complex. The site where the synagogue now stands was once covered by a restrictive covenant.
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6. 13th Street and Eastern Avenue, NW, street view
Designed by architects Daumit & Sargent and completed in 1958, the synagogue’s exterior features iconic Jewish symbols and the sweeping lines of many large synagogues built in the 1950s.
Photograph by Jeremy Goldberg
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7. Chapel Room, Silver Spring, Maryland
Members who did not relocate to Potomac continue to meet for Shabbat and daily minyans in the Blair House Apartments in the Eastern Avenue neighborhood of Silver Spring. The Ark, gates, and other furnishings were moved from the 13th Street synagogue, which was sold in 1994.
Beth Sholom Collections