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Welcome
WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE
Founded in 1966, Magen David Sephardic Congregation (MDSC) is a Modern Orthodox synagogue centrally located to serve Jewish families from Bethesda, Rockville, and Potomac - the Maryland suburbs of our nation’s capital, Washington, DC!
We invite you to come pray or learn with us. Our distinctive Sephardic character is a source of inspiration for us, but membership in MDSC is not exclusive. Our membership is diverse and a biseleh Yiddish is not out of place.
Our mission is to create a welcoming space to celebrate our religion and our culture, to preserve our Sephardic heritage, and to share it with members and friends. We open our doors to all levels of Jewish knowledge and observance. Explore your personal and spiritual growth here, supported by our warm and inclusive community.
Weekly Torah Portion
Parashat Yitro | Exodus 18:1 - 20:23
Jethro, father-in-law of Moshe, learns of the miracles performed by HaShem on behalf of the Israelites. He journeys from his home in Midian to the Israelite camp, bringing with him Moshe’s wife Ziphora and his two sons.
Jethro advises Moshe in the matter of magistrates and judges to assist him in the task of administrating justice to the community.
The Israelites are camped opposite Mount Sinai, where they are told that HaShem has chosen them to be a “kingdom of priests and a “holy nation”. The people respond by proclaiming that they accept their specialness and their mission.
On the sixth day of Sivan, seven weeks after the Exodus, the Israelites assemble at the foot of the mountain. HaShem descends on the mountain. Thunder and lightening and the blast of the shofar are heard, and the people observe billows of smoke as HaShem summons Moshe to ascend the mountain.
HaShem speaks the Ten Commandments, enjoining the people to believe in G-d, not to worship idols or take G-d’s name in vain, to keep the Shabbat, to honor their parents, not to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, or covet another’s property.
The intensity of these requirements is frightening to the people and they beg Moshe to retrieve the information directly from HaShem and interpret it to them.
