What was known as the “Blue Band Room” at Berman Hebrew Academy will soon be adorned with Persian rugs and geometric-patterned walls.
This development is not your average renovation, but the addition of a Sephardic beit midrash — Hebrew for “study house” — to accommodate the Rockville Modern Orthodox Jewish day school’s growing Sephardic community.
Construction began in June on the Hooshang Zaghi z”l Sephardic Beit Midrash in the school’s auditorium wing, according to a Sept. 30 announcement. It is expected to be ready for use in November, according to Berman’s executive director Shmarya Gasner.
“[The Beit Midrash] will serve as a spiritual and learning center for everyone — Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike — enriching our entire student body through the study and practice of Sephardic traditions, halakha, history, and culture, and deepening our shared connection to Torah, tefilla, and one another,” the announcement read.
“I think the importance of having it is to create a makom kadosh — a holy place — for our students to have tefillah, to learn, to gather,” Gasner said. “When students look at spaces, we want them to internalize a significance, and what we want to convey is that tefillah is an important part of your day.”
The Berman community also plans to use the space to house shiurim — lectures, adult education classes or other gatherings. The space, which allows for 60 to 100 occupants, will be available to rent.
“People have already approached us and said maybe they’ll want to have a small bar mitzvah there,” Gasner said. “We have those requests all the time.”
The executive director noticed an increase in Berman’s Sephardic Jewish student body through morning minyan. Berman offers several minyan options, with the band room housing the Sephardic one.
“Over the last few years, it’s actually been growing with the number of students who attend,” Gasner said. “It used to be three times a week that they had the breakout for Sephardim, and now it’s increased to five times a week, every school day.”
Gasner also noted that Berman is home to Kehillat Pardes — The Rock Creek Synagogue and Chabad of Aspen Hill, but no Sephardic synagogue yet.
This gap, coupled with the changing demographics, prompted Gasner and other Berman staff members to discuss the possibility of constructing a dedicated Sephardic prayer space on campus, something they’ve discussed internally over the past three years.
“Then last year, the decision was that we wanted to move forward,” Gasner said. “We thought the timing was right.”
He and the team identified a space — the band room — and met with families who had expressed interest in creating a “more defined and permanent space for a Sephardic beit midrash.”
Miriam Zaghi, Berman’s alumni director and a history teacher, and her husband, Edwin, took on the project in memory of Edwin’s Iranian-born father, Hooshang Zaghi.
“Miriam has worked for the school for over 20 years and also has been a champion of the Sephardic student community,” Gasner said of the longtime Silver Spring resident.
Rebecca and Bernard Suissa, both members of Magen David Sephardic Congregation’s board of directors, dedicated the Bet Midrash’s Torah ark to Bernard’s parents, Samy and Stella Ymar, pioneering leaders at MDSC for more than half a century.
Donors Adina and Dani Tor dedicated the bimah in memory of Dani’s grandparents, the bookcases in honor of their parents and the sanctuary light in honor of their children, Eliana and Joey Tor.
Berman grandparents and great-grandparents Clara and Sherman Katz dedicated the washing station.
The construction of the space is nearly finished, Gasner said, with the only outstanding requirements being a portion of the flooring, ceiling tiles, lighting and detail work.
“All the core [construction], plumbing and electrical is all complete,” he said. “Now it’s just more of the finishing touches.”
Gasner wants to ensure that the space is authentic to the culture, from the tile work on the Aron Kodesh to the rugs laid out for davening.
“We’re very interested in making sure the room felt Sephardic and not just a room that happened to have a Sephardic minyan,” he said. “So a lot of time, planning and details went into the way the space looks for people to feel inspired and feel the intention.”
