Sylvia Potash can still remember the 1951 establishment of Shaare Tefila Congregation. The Silver Spring resident, who has seen the shul’s evolution through three location changes, will turn 103 on April 3.
Potash is a mother of three, grandmother of nine, great-grandmother of 39 and great-great-grandmother of 11, with more great-great-grandchildren on the way.
“I feel good,” Potash said. “I’m enjoying [life].”
Born in Baltimore in 1922, Potash was the only daughter in her family of six. Potash’s father, Herman Adler, was originally from Austria and her mother, Sarah Adler, from present-day Ukraine; the two met in Washington, D.C.
Jewish community was a large part of the family’s life. The Adlers celebrated every Jewish holiday and kept kosher; it was “automatic” for them, Potash said. Herman Adler owned a kosher butcher shop in Georgetown.
“We had an apartment right over the store and we had a kitchen on the first floor,” Potash said.
A lack of indoor plumbing prompted the Adlers to move — “‘This is no place to raise Jewish children,’” Potash’s mother had said of Georgetown, according to Potash’s daughter, Deborah Brodie. But Potash remembers differently, recalling that indoor plumbing wasn’t a common fixture of American houses at the time.
The family moved to Upshur Street in Northwest D.C., living above Herman Adler’s relocated butcher shop.
Potash attended Jewish confirmation classes at Adas Israel Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in D.C., after her three brothers had their bar mitzvahs; Sarah Adler thought it was only fair that Potash should also celebrate this simcha.
She pursued secretarial school after high school, going on to work for the United States Department of War during World War II.
Potash attended Jewish dances in the community, dressed in garments sewn by her mother, a seamstress. She befriended Ethel Potash, who told her, “‘I know someone I want you to meet.’”
That someone was Ethel’s brother, Joseph Potash, a ski trooper in the 10th Mountain Division of the Army.
“He was a very good person,” Sylvia Potash said of Joseph. “He was very good-looking; very fine.”
The two married in August 1945, living in the mountains of Colorado until Joseph finished his stint in the Army. Five years later, the Potashes had three daughters, three years apart from oldest to youngest: Nancy, Deborah and Judith.
The family moved to Riggs Park in Northeast D.C. and joined the shul there. Conflict erupted when half the community wanted mixed-gender seating, while the other half wanted to stick to tradition, separating men and women. Those who preferred mixed-gender seating split off to form what is now Shaare Tefila Congregation.
Sylvia and Joseph Potash were charter members of Shaare Tefila, which met in a church building for the High Holy Days. Sylvia Potash provided books and toys to keep children occupied while their parents davened. Daily services were held in an old house. Each week, Sylvia and her cousin, Rose Gordon, carried tea kettles to that house so that the men would be warm on Shabbat.
Shaare Tefila moved into a new building that had opened on Riggs Road in Northeast D.C., to much fanfare. The surrounding roads had all been closed for a big parade.
“When we had the shul [opening], the city marched down New Hampshire Avenue,” Torah scrolls in hand, Potash recalled.
Deborah Brodie, the Potashes’ daughter who had been 4 years old at the time of the parade, said, “Shaare Tefila was the Potashes’ second home.” The family attended services and was involved in the shul’s Men’s Club and Sisterhood.
“Their lives revolved around the shul and its activities,” Brodie said. “Everyone knew each other; it was a happy place to be.”
Sylvia and Joseph’s daughters had their bat mitzvahs at the Riggs Road location, without air conditioning and without reading the Torah.
Reflecting Sylvia’s upbringing, Jewish holidays were of utmost importance to the family.
The Potashes eventually moved to Kemp Mill, Maryland. The leader of a Jewish Girl Scout troop when cookies were 50 cents per box, Sylvia channeled her mother’s creativity, sewing the girls’ outfits and crafting handmade beds for their baby dolls.
Brodie recalled that Sylvia always had something cooking in the kitchen, whether matzo ball soup, hamantaschen or kasha.
Sylvia Potash, who enjoyed working, returned to her secretarial job once her girls had reached middle school. The Potashes embarked on cross-country camping trips, keeping kosher even in the most remote small towns — canned tuna was a family staple.
After their daughters grew up, Sylvia and Joseph Potash traveled around the U.S. before Joseph died in 2002.
Sylvia lives in a Silver Spring retirement home, having lived on her own until spring 2024. She is most grateful for her “family and good health for everyone.”
Potash is still involved with the Shaare Tefila community today, attending weekly services. The shul has since moved from Riggs Road to Lockwood Drive in Silver Spring, and finally to its current Olney location.
A tribute to Potash detailing her life story ran in the February issue of Shaare Tefila’s newsletter, and the congregation will celebrate her birthday at its monthly Shabbat dinner on April 4.
“Sylvia Potash is one of the sweetest people I know,” Shaare Tefila’s Rabbi Jonah Layman said in a statement emailed to Washington Jewish Week. “She loves to come to shul every week. … She has so many stories of how our congregation began and she’s so happy to still be a part of our community.”
