JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

networks had arisen: the German-sponsored Federated Jewish
Charities and the East European-sponsored United Hebrew
Charities. In 1921 the two combined into the Associated Jewish
Charities. Ever since, the Associated has supported a comprehensive
network of agencies offering social services, health
care, and educational, recreational, and cultural programming.
Widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading Jewish federations,
the Associated is known for its innovative programs,
fundraising effectiveness, and leaders who have played important
roles at the national Jewish communal level.
Community Life
Baltimore Jewry created a wide array of cultural, social, and
recreational institutions through the years, as each wave of
immigrants acted to meet the needs of its members. Several
clubs and literary associations were established by the 1850s,
including the first YMHA in the country (1854). A German-
Jewish “high society” emerged by the 1880s, complete with
debutante balls and exclusive social clubs. East European Jews
developed a thriving Yiddish-based cultural scene in East Baltimore.
Yiddish theaters, kosher restaurants, and bathhouses
drew scores of neighborhood residents. Zionists and socialists,
Orthodox and secularists aimed to enrich the immigrants’
lives with classes, concerts, and lectures. Some maskilim collaborated
with native Baltimorean Henrietta *Szold (daughter
of Rabbi Benjamin Szold) to form the Russian Night School in
1889, a pioneering effort in immigrant education. The Jewish
Educational Alliance, established in 1913, offered everything
from youth sports leagues to adult English classes, and became
a second home for thousands of newcomers.
For many decades the Jewish social scene was divided in
two, with seemingly irreconcilable religious and cultural differences
(as well as garment industry labor-management conflict)
separating the “uptown” German Jews from the “downtown”
Russian Jews. The rift began to heal in the post-World
War II era. By century’s end, new waves of Jewish immigration,
generational change, and the emergence of a significant
ultra-Orthodox community became more salient factors in
shaping a pluralistic Jewish social and cultural life. A variety
of sub-groups supported numerous organizations, activities,
and newspapers – but all within relatively close proximity in
northwest Baltimore, as the flowering of communal diversity
did not alter the desire of most Jews to live in Jewish neighborhoods.
Some institutions were shared by all, notably a popular
two-campus Jewish Community Center and the well-read
weekly Jewish Times (established in 1919). The Jewish Museum
of Maryland remained in East Baltimore to preserve the legacy
of the immigrant past. The nation’s largest regional Jewish museum,
its complex includes America’s third-oldest surviving
synagogue, the Lloyd Street Synagogue (1845).
National and International Jewish Issues
Baltimore Jews have provided leadership on the national Jewish
stage since the mid-nineteenth century. David Einhorn
launched his influential monthly Sinai in 1856, and America’s
baltimore
first Hebrew weekly, Ha-Pisgah, appeared in Baltimore in 1891.
Simon *Sobeloff was the inaugural president of the American
Jewish Congress. Real estate magnate Joseph *Meyerhoff
served as national chair of the United Jewish Appeal and State
of Israel Bonds, demonstrating that the two organizations were
complementary and not competitive. His son, Harvey Meyerhoff,
became chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum in 1987 and, despite doubtful prospects, brought
the Museum to its successful opening in 1993. Rabbi Arthur
*Hertzberg’s Orthodox upbringing in East Baltimore strongly
influenced his contributions to national Jewish life.
Baltimore women have a history of “firsts.” The first
woman to head a major American Jewish congregation was
Helen Dalsheimer, installed as president of Baltimore Hebrew
Congregation in 1956. Shoshana Cardin became the first
woman to lead a major Jewish federation when she assumed
the presidency of Baltimore’s Associated Jewish Charities in
1983. Cardin went on to be the first woman to preside over the
national Council of Jewish Federations.
Baltimore has been an important center of Zionist activity.
One of America’s first *Ḥibbat Zion groups organized here
in 1884, and the only American delegate to the First Zionist
Congress was a Baltimorean, Shearith Israel’s Rabbi Shepsel
Schaffer. Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, began her
Zionist activities in this city. Harry *Friedenwald served as
second president of the American Zionist Federation. In 1947,
a group of Baltimore Zionists secretly acquired, rebuilt, and
launched an old Chesapeake Bay steamer which picked up
refugees in France and unfurled its new name, Exodus 1947,
upon being attacked by the British on its way to Palestine.
The Baltimore Scene
From the beginning, Baltimore’s Jews have actively engaged
in their region’s political, civic, and cultural life. Ettings and
Cohens participated in the pivotal battle of Fort McHenry
during the War of 1812. During the Civil War, Jews were as
divided as the rest of the population in this border city. Rabbi
Einhorn led the antislavery faction, Rabbi Bernhard *Illowy of
the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation defended the status quo,
and Rabbi Szold spoke for Jewish neutrality. Einhorn’s tenure
at Har Sinai was abruptly cut short in 1861 when his newspaper,
Sinai, was destroyed by a pro-slavery mob and he fled
with his family to Philadelphia. Jews have served throughout
state and local government, from Solomon Etting and Jacob
Cohen – elected to the City Council immediately after passage
of the “Jew Bill” in 1826 – to popular 1970s Maryland governor
Marvin *Mandel (whose political career was cut short by
corruption charges).
Jews have played a critical role in Baltimore’s cultural
scene as patrons and participants. Jacob Epstein’s personal art
collection became a core holding of the Baltimore Museum of
Art, while Etta and Claribel Cone gave the BMA the unparalleled
collection of modern art they acquired in their European
travels. Joseph Meyerhoff’s philanthropy created Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall, home of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 99