Special to WJW
Tucked into a Rockville office building, not far from the Capital Beltway and across from White Flint Mall, is a beit midrash.
And, each afternoon, busy businessmen take a short break for a Mincha prayer service.
The house of study itself is not new. Jeffrey Cohen, a partner in the BECO Partnership Group, a real estate firm, and one of the buyers of Beco and its sister building, BECO West, had the room built 12 years ago when he and his co-owners were doing some renovation of their new offices.
But now, due in part to the rising numbers of people attending the daily Orthodox Mincha minyanim there, "We're getting ready to write our own sefer Torah," Cohen said. "We're about to commission it, hopefully within the next 30 days."
The beit midrash, roughly 15 feet by 30 feet, contains such items as a Talmud, several sets of Mishnah, books on chasidic philosophy and Jewish law, and transcripts of speeches given by the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, who died in 1994 at the age of 92.
Tax attorney Menachem Ely started to hold regular Mincha afternoon prayer services in the beit midrash in January.
"You can always pray by yourself, but it's better to do it with the 10 people," Ely said.
On the day of an interview last week, Ely's minyan drew 13 others. "We could have even kicked a few people out" and still had a minyan, he quipped. "Around here, there are no Minchas. It's not like in New York, where you always have the critical mass of Jewish people interested."
Along with several partners, Ely, who says people have been finding out about the minyanim through "word of mouth," purchased a tax practice from tax and audit giant KPMG in December. He now sublets an office in the BECO building, so the minyanim, held in BECO West, are a mere hop and skip away from his desk.
"I feel different davening with a minyan," he continued. "There's just more of a presence of God there. ... Now I schedule my day around it. I know not to make appointments or client calls between 1:45 and 2."
Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, regional director of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, visits the beit midrash frequently ‹ especially since the death of his father, for whom he says Kaddish at BECO.
"There isn't any other company in the area with a room dedicated to study and prayer," he said. "We have regular lunch-and-learns there. I have a study group with one of the [BECO] partners there, people who work in the building come in to study there during the day. It's quiet, no one can reach you."
Though the room is not yet open to the public, "Now that we have a consistent minyan, I think the [beit midrash] is going to become available to others as well," he added.
Sina Soumekhian, owner of kosher eateries Siena's Pizzeria, on Woodlglen Drive in Rockville, and Eli's Restaurant, on 20th Street in Northwest, also attends the minyanim daily to say Kaddish for his mother, who died several months ago.
"I'm always between the two places where I work," said the Iraqi-born restaurateur. "It's a good place to say Kaddish in 15 minutes and get out. It's very convenient, the time and the place."
While Soumekhian said he does not use the beit midrash for any purpose other than prayer, he said he does go 15 minutes prior to the start of the minyanim to do some davening on his own.
Yaacov Ben Amou, rabbi at Eshet Torah in Rockville, attends the service daily.
"My reaction is that it's a mechaya ‹ something really great that brings life and energy," he said.
"For all the young professionals in this area, it's very difficult to find time during the day to daven. As a rabbi, I have a hard time finding a Mincha where I can daven. There is one in Potomac, but it's a big schlep ... this is perfect because it's right after lunch, it takes two minutes to get there and two minutes to get back and you can still observe [the mitzvah]. It's a brilliant solution."
While Ely noted that "there has been no interest from any women so far," he said all are welcome at the Orthodox services.
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