“Let your soul, in its fullness, give praise!” – Psalms 150
We believe each human being is created in the image of the Divine. Our Shaare Torah community is home to Jews and family members of different racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. We celebrate community members of all gender identities and sexual orientations. Our households include individuals, single-parent families, interfaith/multi-heritage families, and blended families. We embrace our diversity of physical and cognitive abilities, of life experience, of Jewish practice, of age, and economic backgrounds. We welcome you here as you are, in your fullness!
“You should love the stranger,” the Torah instructs us, “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This mitzvah (commandment) appears more than any other in our Scripture. Each one of us has had the experience of being a “stranger” in a group or community, of feeling vulnerable or excluded. Our Jewish tradition calls on us to have empathy for those who are marginalized wherever we are and to build communities of care and belonging. This is challenging and vital work and we are always striving to improve, to become the most inclusive, equitable, accessible, and welcoming community we can be. We value your unique voice, your feedback, and your participation as we build together!
More than religious services.
More than baby namings or b’nai mitzvah or weddings or funerals.
More than social programming for our different generations.
More than prayer and education and service.
More than our smiles. More than our tears.
Shaare Torah is a welcoming, vibrant Conservative synagogue community (Kehillah), dedicated to the ideals of Jewish tradition (Masoret), and to acts of kindness (Hesed).
We are a transformative Jewish community that connects every participant to each other, the Jewish people, Jewish tradition, humanity, and G-d.
Our congregation was founded by a small group of families in the Quince Orchard area, who began meeting in local schools and each other’s homes in the fall of 1995. Today, our congregation includes more than 300 member households, as well as hundreds of other individuals and families living throughout Montgomery County Maryland, including Gaithersburg, as well as Bethesda and Rockville, Potomac and North Potomac, Germantown and Clarksburg.
