The synagogue is affiliated with the National Council of Young Israel. The synagogue has sponsored Jewish educational activities with other local Orthodox institutions such as The Greater WashingtonCommunity Kollel. It offers a variety of programs such as for senior citizens in conjunction with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington. It is also affiliated with the JCRC of Greater Washington. For environmentalists it has co-hosted programs with the Canfei Nesharim organization that provides: "a Torah based approach to understand and act on the relationship between traditional Jewish sources and modern environmental issues...which explores environmentalismthrough the lens of Halacha and traditional Jewish sources. The new initiative is known as Maayan Olam: the Silver Spring Torah and Environmental Group... endorsed by the Silver Spring Orthodox congregations Young Israel-Shomrai Emunah, Kemp Mill Synagogue."
History
Origins
Congregation Shomrai Emunah was established in 1951 when several Jewish individuals formed a worship group in Chillum, Maryland. Rabbi Abraham A. Kellner was the first spiritual adviser. Services were originally held in members' homes. Later on, the congregation held services in a Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge, and then used rented space at Chillum Castle at Chillum and Riggs roads that was owned by a Masonic lodge. In 1955, Congregation Shomrai Emunah began raising $75,000 of funds to build its own synagogue. Land on the Maryland side of Eastern Avenue near Oglethorpe Road was purchased, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 12, 1957. Approximately one-hundred families were members of Congregation Shomrai Emunah at the time. The synagogue was dedicated on December 22, 1957. Rabbi Gedaliah Anemer led the ceremony, having become Shomrai Emunah's spiritual leader earlier that year.
Montgomery County
In the early 1960s, there was a trend of residents moving further into suburbs of Washington, D.C. With many of its members no longer living within walking distance to Shomrai Emunah's synagogue, attendance on Shabbat decreased significantly. Rabbi Anemer bought a house near Kemp Mill, Maryland, and he began holding Shabbat services there every other week. When attendance at Rabbi Anemer's home quickly became too large for the space, Shomrai Emunah built a new synagogue on nearby University Boulevard. Orthodox Jewish congregation in Montgomery County. Shomrai Emunah later started another service at a member's home in the Montgomery Knolls area of Silver Spring.
Further growth
By the late 1960s, the synagogue's membership outgrew the synagogue in Kemp Mill, so its membership raised funds to build a second, larger building in Kemp Mill. Rabbi Anemer established a religious school for girls in 1964. A religious school for boys opened the following year. On April 29, 1973, Shomrai Emunah held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new synagogue at Arcola Avenue and Lamberton Drive in Kemp Mill. The synagogue opened the following year.
New rabbi
After 52 years of holding the position of rabbi, Rabbi Anemer died on April 15, 2010. He was succeeded by Rabbi Dovid Rosenbaum, who was officially installed on November 20, 2010.
