Welcoming community, excellent preschool and summer camp. Many opportunities for personal growth…read moreand community involvement. The clergy and staff are wonderful.

I spent a great deal of time at Temple Rodef Shalom Nursery School. I worked as an aide for one of…read morethe children enrolled, so I was not employed by TRSNS but spent several days there a week observing staff and their preschool program. I was continually impressed with the professional and caring teachers, who have great approaches towards educating children. TRSNS focuses on exploratory learning, creative play, kindness to others, and respect for others and the environment. Many of the children are not Jewish- this is a great preschool for anyone!

I went to nursery school and Hebrew school at Har Shalom. I was Bar Mitzvahed here…read more I love our building. It is truly beautiful. Our sanctuaries and social hall are amazing. Our community has always been a very welcoming place. One Yelper Ana wrote about concerns about Rabbi Raskin. I share her concerns. The Rabi does not like to meet with people regardless of whether or not they're of his faith. I was in an awful car accident, through the fault of another driver, and am truly blessed to be alive, The Rabbi did not return my calls and would not meet with me in my home as I recovered despite my attempts to contact him. He finally called when I left a message for somebody else telling them how disappointed I was. The rabbi still would not meet with me despite my home being less than a mile from our synagogue and walkable for any healthy person. This was well before Corona. Months later, it is easily walkable for me. Why would I want to meet with such a clergyman? I saw an Orthodox Jew wearing a Yamika on the street and he gladly said the Mishaberach with me, when my Rabbi would not. I hope this review motivates the Rabbi to change the way he does his job for the good of our synagogue community.

Our family has had such an overwhelmingly positive experience at the Sherman Early Childhood Center…read moreand Congregation Har Shalom over the past few years. We feel so very fortunate to have found this beautiful place and could not recommend this unique community more highly to other families. The Sherman ECC at Har Shalom: We did a lot of research into the various preschool options in the Potomac-Rockville-Bethesda area before we found the Sherman ECC. This preschool is a magical place, a life-changing experience for your family and your child. We feel such an overwhelming amount of gratitude to the extraordinary teachers at the Sherman ECC for their dedication to our children. Beth Hoch is the Director of the Sherman ECC and she is simply spectacular. Beth has a genuine gift for educating young children and interacting with families. We interviewed dozens of preschool directors when we were researching the preschools in the area, and Beth truly stood out as someone inherently gifted in her role as Director of the ECC. Congregation Har Shalom: After joining the Sherman ECC, we started attending community events and prayer services at the Har Shalom synagogue. We had the same fabulous experience at the synagogue. Rabbi Adam Raskin fosters a true sense of community and friendship throughout the synagogue and his sermons are genuinely interesting and accessible to people at all levels of religious observance. He is also very approachable: the kids run up to him during services for a chocolate or many chocolates, he walks around shaking hands with congregants, and he also visits with everyone individually after prayer services. The prayer services and other community events are often also led by Cantor Henrique Ozur Bass, another spectacular member of the Har Shalom clergy. Cantor Ozur Bass is extremely approachable, supportive, kind, friendly and funny. It has been such an absolute pleasure to participate in his prayer services over the past few years. He leads the children in singing Jewish songs and melodies every Friday morning, and we used to love attending as a family before COVID. Rabbi Rachel Simmons recently joined the synagogue and has done a nice job with holding events that young families can attend, from rockin' Shabbat to ice cream socials to Yoga Shabbat.

Amazing mosque…read more This mosque is built on Moorish style of architecture, which is a hybrid of Turkic, Berber, Arab and Visigothic (due to Muslim Moor and Arab invasion of the Visigoth Kingdom) styles. It was funded by the Saudis and commissioned by the Turks, while the architects were from Egypt. Eisenhower inaugurated this mosque as a symbol of unity between the Abrahamic faiths to fight against the Atheist communists. That unity was a little premature.

What a beautiful mosque and Islamic Center. We went during one of the annual markets. Staff were…read morewelcoming and let people go inside the mosque (wearing appropriate clothing). The outdoor plaza had food stands and other vendors from Muslim countries from around the world. The food from Bangladesh was especially delicious!

I really enjoyed this service. They had an african-american minister (first I've ever met at a…read moreUnitarian church), and I enjoyed his message. He pulled a lot of stories from music, movies, plays, and poetry. The movies hit me the closest. Friendly community. Hope to visit again soon

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington is an excellent wedding venue!…read more If you're looking for a venue where you can bring in your own food and drink in Arlington this is the place for you! Annie, the event coordinator, is incredible to work with and made every step of the process so easy for us. Annie gave us a great tour, set us up with a UUC minister for our ceremony, and helped make sure that all of our vendors could get in to the space before, during, and after the event. We had such a great experience and I can't recommend this church highly enough.

Machar is my home! After being schooled in Reform Judaism, saying words I didn't really believe in,…read moreI found myself in a congregation that not only respects a variety of views, but also encourages logical thinking-- all in the pursuit of our common goals: to make sense of our place on earth so that we can do tikkan olum , we can repair the world and have fun at the same time. Machar is my home!

My wife and I joined Machar because we want our daughters to experience Jewish life, but we are not…read morecomfortable with a lot of the traditional theistic prayers. Machar's perfect for us, and the new rabbi, Nehama Benmosche, is energetic, thoughtful, and great with kids. (Full disclosure: I was until recently a board member of Machar.)

There is not a better Arabic language tutoring school in the DC area than Al Bayt Al Arabi. I…read morespent over nine months at Al Bayt al Arabi (five hours a day, Monday through Friday), and used their methods to move from the 1+ to the 3 level on the standard U.S. Government language assessment exam. Another student I overlapped with during this time had a nearly identical experience. I have previously studied Arabic full-time at the Foreign Service Institute and two other private language school in DC, and nowhere other than Al Bayt Al Arabi did I find instructors who worked harder than students (if you have any experience in full-time language training, you know how crazy that statement is). The two primary instructors know how provide real-world Arabic study that is still directly applicable to the quirks of government language assessment tests...no easy feat. The primary instructor at Al Bayt Al Arabi has spent decades as an Arabic instructor for both the U.S. Government and private institutions, and he takes those years of experience to (incredibly) create customized audio and visual study material for the student based on his or her level and specific needs and goals. This material then becomes available for independent study outside of class or for use while commuting to class. I've never even heard of another Arabic instructor in the DC area taking the time to do that. The instructors are flexible with study hours and are willing to utilize any mix of in-person or Skype sessions (so you can continue to have class while travelling). I was initially wary of the commute to class, but the drive for me was worth the quality of instruction (plus the aforementioned audio material created for study during the commute). Learning a language like Arabic is a daunting undertaking that you will likely only do once in your life. If you're willing to make the investment, you might as well do it right with instructors like those at Al Bayt Al Arabi. I began at Al Bayt Al Arabi with some Arabic language experience and experience in the Arab world, so I can't speak for a student starting from zero, but I know that diplomatic, corporate, and media headquarters across the Arab world are stocked with success stories from the two primary instructors at Al Bayt Al Arabi...everywhere I go in the professional Arab world I keep running into people that have studied Arabic under these instructors.

The best, friendliest, most challenging, and all around fantastic teachers are at Bayt AlArabi…read more They will dedicate as much time as you need to help you improve your Arabic skills. If you want to see yourself improve multiple levels on a language test this is the place to go. If you you want to practice speaking and enjoy your time learning around wonderful people this is the place to go. Al Bayt Al Arabi also has an Arabic school in Tunis, so there are many options for study through them as well. They are flexible with your schedule and really care about their students and providing a quality education.

Bismillah. May Allah bless the community of Muslims at Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center led by Imam…read moreFarhan Siddiqi. Ameen. I have good experiences at this masjid and feel welcome by the community. There are many beneficial activities and classes being offered weekly and the opportunity to grow in your practice of Islam. No Muslim or community is perfect but if we can train ourselves to focus on the good of the community and be patient with its shortcomings, maybe Allah will transform the shortcomings into good. Just a thought.

I've been here a few times. It's more spacious than other masjids in the area that I've been to…read more The parking is meh, but you can find additional parking across the street at the church (honestly, I'd just park there in order to avoid wasting time looking for parking at the masjid, unless you arrive waaaayyy early). They have a lot of different programs and events at this masjid. More events and lectures than I've seen at other masjids in the area. I am not familiar with the leadership or management of the masjid so I can't really comment on those factors, not yet at least. It's a good masjid to check out. With Ramadan coming up, it should be a lot of events happening here. I'll update after Ramadan with any thoughts on how that experience is.

This is a very entertaining and interesting food festival!! They have all sorts of flavorful sweet…read moreand savory dishes and desserts! We ordered Thai tea, fresh shrimp rolls, and chicken buns and all sorts of amazing desserts! The Thai dancers attired with their beautiful and colorful Thai dresses performed intricate and amazing dances! It was such a beautiful Fall day for enjoying eating and entertainment with family and friends!! Highly recommend this annual event if you are in the area!! It's a great way to explore new and exciting culture and events!! However, make sure you have cash, Venmo, or Zelle on hand as they do not accept anything else..

This Thai Buddhist Temple has a space next to it where they have vendors that sells authentic Thai…read moreand sometimes Vietnamese food for purchase. Normally events are around their religious holidays. They also post days that the market is open on Facebook! I love going here to support the local community. Some of the ladies will make to order so you can tone the spice level down of needed. Payment: Venmo, Zelle and cash.