BALTIMORE JEWISH CULTURAL CHAVURAH

         In-Person Outdoor Picnic July 11

The BJCC will hold its first post-pandemic outdoor event when we gather in the back yard of a member's house at 5:00 PM on Sunday July 11. Fully-vaccinated members and non-members are welcome. This is a good time members to socialize with friends and for new folks to meet BJCC members.

Although we've shared food in a pot-luck spirit in the past, we think it best for everyone to bring and eat their own food this time. It seems safer. We will provide beverages and dinnerware.

In case it rains or is too hot, we will send around a cancellation email by noon on July 11. The rain date is the following weekend July 18. For information about the specific address please contact pincus@umbc.edu. We hope to see you there.

Our next event will be an outdoor showing of the movie "Broadway Danny Rose" on Sunday August 22 at 8:00. The film stars Woody Allen, Mia Farrow and Nick Apollo Forte. In his attempts to reconcile a lounge singer with his mistress, a hapless talent agent is mistaken for her lover by a jealous gangster. For more information contact us at baltimoresecularjews@gmail.com.

In-Person Outdoor Movie August 22

American Jews and Surnames, Sunday, October 10, 10:30 AM

"Why and How (Many) American Jews Changed Their Surnames;" a talk by Bob Jacobson. 

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Bob Jacobson (family name Jakubowicz until 1902) will present mostly based on the book

A Rosenberg By Any Other Name, by Kirsten Fermaglich, who studied New York City court

records as well as national trends and patterns in name changing.  We'll also discuss surname

changes among our own families, friends and acquaintances, focusing on the motivations of

those who changed their names. The talk will take place via Zoom on Sunday October 10 at 10:30AM.

Bob is a long-time member and current vice president of the BJCC. He has conducted a great deal of genealogical research and is a local musician.

I*Virtual Event* 

Friday, July 23, 2021 from 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm.

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Please join us Friday, July 23rd at 7:30 pm for the second talk in a two part series by David Saltzberg, a BJCC member. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the most important president of the 20th century. He was elected four times and confronted the Great Depression and World War II. He struggled with problems eerily similar to our day, including nativism, white nationalism, isolationism, religious prejudices, and economic insecurity. He is viewed as a highly successful president.

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But was he good for the Jews? In this second session, we will explore the status of Jews in America in the 1940s and discuss Roosevelt's relationship with Jews and the Holocaust.
 
David Saltzberg is a practicing gastroenterologist at GBMC. He has a master’s degree in Jewish history from the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University. David has lectured on topics at the intersection of Jewish and American life, including Jewish medical ethics, Jews in sports, and a modern view of circumcision.

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Please contact pincus@umbc.edu to get the Zoom link.

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FDR and the Jews, Part 2: 1939-1945

“Jewish Humor”, Sunday, November 7, 10:30AM

Arlene Ogurick will present "Jews and Humor," on Sunday, November 7 at 10:30AM. Speaking about Jews, Sigmund Freud (who wrote a book about jokes!) said "I do not know whether there are many other instances of a people making fun to such a degree of its own character.” Arlene will base her talk mostly on the book No Joke: Making Jewish Humor by Ruth R. Wisse, a professor of Yiddish literature at Harvard University who also wrote The Schlemeil as Modern Hero. 

Arlene is a member of the BJCC, a retired librarian, and an occasional clown.

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Please contact Fred Pincus at pincus@umbc.edu to have the Zoom link forwarded to you.

Rabbi Judith Seid will speak on “This Again?: Three Unsettled Questions for Secular Jews” on Friday, November 19 at 7:30PM via Zoom.  Since the Jewish Enlightenment in central and southern Europe in the late 18th and 19th centuries, Secularist Jews have faced several continuing issues: universalism vs particularism; our relationship with the religious Jews; are/should the Jews be like any other nation or are we different? The Zoom link was sent to all paid up BJCC members. 

Rabbi Seid is a third-generation Secularist.  She holds rabbinic and cantorial degrees from the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism and is the author of God-Optional Judaism, available from csjo.org.  She is the founder of the BJCC.

Please contact Elise Saltzberg at esaltzberg@aol.com to have the Zoom link forwarded to you.

​“Recurrent Issues Facing Secular Jews” Friday, November 19, 7:30PM

A talk by Rabbi Jeremy Kridel via Zoom. Contact esaltzberg@aol.com or pincus@umbc.edu for the Zoom Link.

“Jews of The West Wing”, Friday, December 17, 7:30PM

“Jewish Peddlers in Rural Areas”, Friday, January 7, 2022, 7:30PM