Second Cousins, Card Parties, and Chickens in the Back Yard Part V

generations-2002-385x500Article written by Deborah R. Weiner, former JMM research historian and family history coordinator. Originally published in Generations  – Winter 2002: Jewish Family History. Information on how to purchase your own copy here. Many thanks to JMM collections manager Joanna Church for re-typing this article.

Part V: Summers in Baltimore
Miss the beginning? Start here.

 The young woman from Easton cited another influence that helped her maintain a Jewish identify: spending summers with relative sin Baltimore. In fact, kinship ties to the big city have played a major role in the lives of Jews in Maryland’s rural areas and small towns. The summer visit to Baltimore relatives has been a constant in small-town Jewish family life through the years, though the trip has become considerably shorter over time. Bar and bat mitzvah preparation, kosher food buying, securing a rabbi for weddings or other events – all have been made easier by the family connections that most small-town Jews have to Baltimore (or, as sometimes has been the case in western Maryland, to Pittsburgh). Perhaps above all, Baltimore has been a crucial source of “new blood” for the communities, since marriages among local families were limited by the fact that so many were related to each other. As Alvin Grollman succinctly put it, “We all went to Baltimore to find our wives. The big city was good for that.”[1]

Of course, Baltimore also acted as a powerful magnet pulling people away from small towns. For every young person who found a mate and returned home, there were more who stayed to enjoy the opportunities and benefits of city life. Many families moved to the city when their children reached their late teens, fearing that the dearth of eligible Jewish mates would lead to intermarriage. But there can be no question that having extended family in Baltimore helped sustain Jewish life in rural Maryland.

The Hirsches of Havre de Grace continue the tradition of extended family life among small-town Jews. JMM 2002.5.8.
The Hirsches of Havre de Grace continue the tradition of extended family life among small-town Jews. JMM 2002.5.8.

Ultimately, despite help from their big-city relatives, small-town Jews mostly had their own determination and their local extended families to thank for their ability to maintain a Jewish way of life. And despite (or perhaps, because of) the distinctly non-Jewish atmosphere of their towns, family life in rural areas could be seen as impressively Jewish, since almost all religious and social activities were carried out within a family setting.

Since the 1950s, the exodus from small town to big city has accelerated. But occasionally the move is in the opposite direction, and the reason often has something to do with family. When Joan Gelrud left New York City for Bethesda in the 1970s, even that thriving suburb seemed “small townish” to her. When she got to St. Mary’s County, “I thought it was out of a novel. But we had family here and my husband had a thriving business, and I got pregnant and my children’s grandparents were here and aunts and uncles, and it seemed like it could be a good thing for a starting family situation.” In recent years, she’s been president of the local congregation, and again, family has been a key motivation: “I think I do more because we’re here. Because it’s not so easy, you make more of an effort. I like that my kids see that.”[2]

~The End~

[1] Tomchin, “Looking Back with Pride”; Jacobs, “There Really ARE Jews on the Eastern Shore.”

[2] Joan Gerlund, interview with Karen Falk, Lexington Park, Md., 19 October 2000 (JMM OH 0384).

 

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jewish museum of maryland

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