We’d love to hear from you! We’d especially love to get your pictures or videos. Please send them to us.
Category: atavist-organization-22819
Staff
Staff Even a do-it-yourself synagogue needs office space and someone to do the administrative work. In 1967, when Rabbi Bernard H.Mehlman came on board four years after the creation of the temple, an office was set up in his family’s basement, which turned out to be inconvenient for everyone involved. So, it wasn’t long before…
Education: History and Evolution
Before there was a rabbi, even before there was a temple, there was Micah education. As founding member Betty Ustun remembers it, four families living in Southwest, DC, “thought they should have religious education for their children. That’s how we got started.” Jewish education for adults as well as children has remained central throughout Temple…
Temple Officers
Temple Officers Serving on the Temple Micah Board of Directors has always been hard work. The policy-making body is just that–policy-making. In partnership with the rabbis, the board sets the tone, direction and substance of the congregation. Just like the no-plaques rule which refuses to honor wealthy members just because they are able to donate…
Life Cycle Events
Life Cycle Events Now early into its second half century, Temple Micah is mature enough to have multiple-generation families among the membership. As the Granof family observed life cycle milestones Micah was there to help celebrate or mourn. As a young married couple, Helene and Gene Granof joined the temple in 1967. (Helene had grown…
Social Justice
Social Justice (Tzedek) From its earliest days in the 1960s, Temple Micah has been guided by a deep commitment to social justice. Early newsletters announced meetings on civil rights, called on members to tutor at-risk students in the Southwest DC neighborhood where the congregation began, participated in community-wide social justice projects, and took an active…
The Micah Way
The Micah Way Temple Micah has always been a special place, which has often meant being different from other Reform congregations. What makes us special is hard to put into words, but the elements of our history may shed light on some of our distinctiveness. Born in the 1960s, we are congenitally egalitarian. From the…
Member Stories
Member Stories First and foremost, Temple Micah has always been about its people, the individuals that make Micah what it is. It began more than a half century ago as a small group of friends and neighbors. Although the congregation has grown much too large for everyone to know everyone else, Micah remains a community,…
Early Days
Early Days There is general agreement that Temple Micah was started in 1963 by a few families in Southwest Washington, DC. But the memories of the earliest members differ on the precise circumstances and reasons for its founding. To have a nearby place to observe the High Holy days, says one. To provide a religious…
Learning Together
Learning Together Temple Micah’s deep-rooted focus on learning isn’t just for kids. Adult education has always been taken very seriously. The temple sponsors an annual scholar-in-residence, Sunday speakers, adult ed series led by professional staff, adult Hebrew classes, discussion groups and other learning opportunities. Members themselves have organized lay-led study sessions. The longest-running is Torah…