Memo: To the new Jewish members of Congress

From: The Washington Jewish community

Re: Welcome to Washington

With the 111th Congress set to take office in a few months, we thought it might be helpful to offer some advice to the new Jewish members of Congress (as well as the new Hill staffers and White House personnel) who will arrive in January. The election of three new members will bring the total number of Jewish members of the House of Representatives to 32, while the Senate will remain at 13 MOTs (members of the tribe).

The first order of business will be to find a place to live. Many members prefer to live near the Hill, to avoid the horrendous Washington traffic. Despite what everyone says, the traffic in Washington is really only bad between the months of September through July. Should you decide to venture out to the suburbs, don't bother to base your decision on where you can find a good bagel or deli -- we don't have any.

Nevertheless, if you want to live in a Jewish community, you certainly have many choices, since we don't all live in one area. In Maryland, you can choose from Silver Spring (including the Kemp Mill and White Oak sections), Olney, Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Potomac, North Potomac or Chevy Chase. In the District, Jews live in the city's Northwest quadrant, and in Northern Virginia, it would be in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax or Reston.

While most cities have one Jewish community center, since we don't live in one area, we are blessed with three: D.C., Greater Washington and Northern Virginia. We are just happy we don't have 15.

When you travel from Maryland or the District to the Northern Virginia JCC or one of the synagogues there, one line you will inevitably hear countless times is "be sure to bring your passport." In fact, when you catch yourself saying that, then you will have lived here for at least two years, long enough to be considered a native.

Speaking of traffic and finding your way around town, the best investment you can make is in a navigational system. It will especially come in handy when trying to figure out how to stay on the road you were on when going around one of the circles or when you are on a street that suddenly without warning changes names. But your GPS won't help you figure out if you are inside or outside the Beltway, on the inner loop or outer loop, or which time of day you can go in which direction and avoid the onslaught of oncoming traffic when on the Rock Creek Parkway.

There is no shortage of synagogues to choose from, with all kinds of styles -- from Orthodox to Reform, with Conservative and Reconstructionist, as well as New Age, Renewal, Chabad and nondenominational. We even have a synagogue that is not a synagogue (Sixth & I Historic). We also have our share of nonaffiliated, minyanim and a variety of chavurot. There are chavurot with rabbis, chavurot without rabbis, chavurot of rabbis, chavurot that do not admit rabbis and chavurot that have rabbis who do not admit that they are rabbis.

We are also blessed with several day schools, so be careful if you say, "My child goes to 'the' Jewish Day School," as you may offend someone who sends his or her child to a Jewish day school other than the one your child attends.

We have a plethora of Jewish organizations serving the community, including the federation, Jewish Community Relations Council, Hebrew Home, Jewish Social Service Agency, Jewish Council for the Aging, Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, as well as many others. In addition to the local agencies, we also are home to a number of national Jewish organizations.

Consequently, if you want, you could avoid ever having to prepare a meal or eat at home by going to the fund-raisers for the local or national Jewish organizations a different night each day of the week. This is because our community has a master calendar, so organizations try not to schedule events on the same night, to avoid conflicts. Sometimes, it even works.

For most local Jews, an invitation "to the Embassy" means only one embassy, the Embassy of Israel, so it is a good idea to double-check if a staffer tells you you have a meeting at "the Embassy" so you know which embassy to go to. There's also the chance that the event could also be the Embassy Suites Hotel. And speaking of hotels, you especially want to double check, and then double check again when you have a meeting at "the Hilton." It could be the Washington Hilton or the Capital Hilton. One is on Connecticut Avenue near Dupont Circle and one is on K Street. For easy reference, the Washington Hilton, the one near Dupont Circle, is referred to as "the one where Reagan was shot."

A word of caution and humility. It is very easy to get caught up in feeling important when you live in the D.C. area. One good thing to keep in mind: A local bank used to advertise it was the most important bank in the most important city in the world. That bank is no longer around.

Oh, and one last piece of advice: To keep on top of what is going on in the community and to stay informed of developments in the local, national and international Jewish community, you will want to subscribe to Washington Jewish Week.

Stuart Weinblatt is religious leader of Congregation B'nai Tzedek in Potomac.