Today's Building Hours
  • Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC
    5:30am - 10:00pm
  • Weinberg Park Heights JCC
    5:30am - 10:00pm
Shabbat Candle Lighting: 8:11pm
Join the J Locations Schedules
Today's Building Hours
  • Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC
    5:30am - 10:00pm
  • Weinberg Park Heights JCC
    5:30am - 10:00pm
Shabbat Candle Lighting: 8:11pm

JCC Blog

Category: Jewish Living

Jun04
by admin
Holidays

Shalom, Shalom, Shavuot

By Rabbi Jessy Dressin 

In many ways we are coming to the end of the year…the end of a period of time in which we learned together, celebrated together and shared lots of great times and experiences as a community.

There is a famous Israeli song with the words that read: “Shalom Shalom, Shalom Shalom. It means hello and welcome home. And when you want to say goodbye, we use the words Shalom as well.” How great that the same word we use to say goodbye is also the word we use to say hello! It’s like one big circle! Or spiral!

The Jewish calendar also moves according to cycles. We celebrate the same set of holidays year in and year out and yet each year we are in a little bit of a different place than we were...

Apr02
by admin
Youth Jewish Life

Exploring Judaism Together

My Tribe Families Make Connections to Each Other and Their Faith

When Beth and Dave Markowitz’s oldest son finished preschool, they realized that they wanted a new way to explore Jewish culture and traditions as a family. After doing some networking and searching, they landed on My Tribe. My Tribe is a nine month-long experiential, opportunity for families and communities to come together with others who want to explore fun, meaningful ways to tap into the rhythm of the Jewish calendar and experiences.

My Tribe operates on a “Come as you are” approach, welcoming families of all kinds, and all levels of Jewish observance, interest, and understanding. “My Tribe has been a strategic attempt to build something co-collaborative that resonates with the “New Jewish Family” explains My Tribe founder Rabbi Jessy Dressin, Senior Director of Jewish Life at the J, “It assumes...

Apr02
by admin
Jewish Life

Making their Mark on the World

Ten Jewish Baltimoreans to be Honored at 2019 Baltimore Jewish Hall of Fame

While many of us aspire to change the world and do so in many ways, there are those who go above and beyond to make a lasting impact on the lives of others.

Every other year, the Baltimore Jewish Hall of Fame (HOF) honors up to 10 exceptional Jewish Baltimoreans who have made significant contributions to the local and global community through their life’s work in fields such as science, education, business, medicine, law, politics, community service, sports and the arts.

The advent of the Baltimore Jewish Hall of Fame dates to 2008.  According to JCC Chief Executive Officer Barak Hermann, “We wanted to create an event that celebrates the lives of individuals whose accomplishments reflected the...

Feb13
by admin
Jewish Life

Sharing Israel Experiences with J Kids and beyond

Meet Shinshinim, Shani & Bar

The JCC of Greater Baltimore is thrilled to have two Israeli high school graduate-emissaries on its team this year -- Shani Kalmanovich and Bar Ling.  Shani and Bar work at the JCC three days a week as part of an expanded “Shinshinim” program sponsored by the Jewish Agency of Israel, funded in part through The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and locally facilitated by The Louise D. & Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education.  (Shinshinim stands for Shnat Sherut, which translates to a year of service in Hebrew).

Shani and Bar deferred army service for a year to volunteer in the Baltimore Jewish community in...

Sep21

Sukkah City – Coming to Baltimore!

Celebrate the harvest festival of sukkot at this musical evening on the fields of the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC. Experience an array of different Sukkot hosted by friends, organizations, synagogues and business partners. Bring your own picnic dinner to eat in our Sukkah City and enjoy sukkah inspired treats from beer to sundaes. It’s friends, family, festival, live music, food and fun.  It’s community. It’s Sukkah City!

A sukkah is a man-made hut used as a makeshift living and dining area during Sukkot.

For Sukkah City, at least a dozen organizations will be building sukkot in the same proximity at the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC, to...

Sep21
by admin
JCC news

Supporting the J Community

Helping everyone to participate in our programs

Each year the JCC provides over $543,000 in need‐based scholarships for children, teens and adults to participate in JCC Early Childhood, Inclusion activities, JCC Maccabi Games and ArtsFest, J Camps, and J Membership. These programs reflect how the “J” connects families, supports individuals and helps build a stronger community. Funding for these scholarships comes from The Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore as well as fundraising events like J Live at the Gordon, Chanukah Hot Chocolate 5K, the Baltimore Jewish Hall of Fame and the Community Block Party.

Jun20

Celebrating Jewish Holidays with Our ECEC Children

How do you begin to teach preschool children about the Jewish holidays?

In the Fall of 2017, members of the JCC’s Early Childhood Education Center team assembled a beautiful document providing answers to that question.  Over the course of six months, they developed a resource guide for fellow JCC teachers entitled: Chageinu: Our Celebrations!: An Early Childhood Education Curricular Resource for Teaching Holidays.

The principal authors behind Chageinu were Judy Bickford, Assistant Director of the Meyerhoff ECEC, Staci Katz, Early Childhood Educator (who conceived the idea), and Rabbi Jessy Dressin.

According to Judy, “In creating this text, we wanted to develop a dynamic, growing document. We published it in the form a notebook, so everything is removable. We can add to it as the need arises, or we can subtract from it.”

The...

Jun20
by admin
Special Needs

A Passion for Dance, Kindness, and Respect

Many in the Jewish Community already know JCC staff member Sara Rubinstein. Sara was recently awarded the Darrell D. Friedman Institute’s Neely Tal Snyder Community Impact Award, for her work improving the lives of people with disabilities both here at the J and within the Jewish community.

What many don’t know about Sara is her career trajectory, and what led her to do this incredibly important work as a champion for people with diverse needs and advocate for inclusion.

A participant in dance programs since kindergarten, Sara’s “first love” was, and remains, dance, with musical theatre a strong second. 

Through high school, Sara was convinced she would someday become a dance teacher, but at St....

Jun20

JCC Executive Assistant Saadya Barron Brings Warm Touch to J Executive Suite

It’s no company secret, but most folks inside and outside the J know that if you want to reach members of the JCC Executive Team, the best route is to go through Saadya Barron, the JCC Executive Team’s Executive Assistant.

Fortunately, Saadya is one of the kindest, warm-hearted, and endearing individuals you will ever meet, so we’re all in luck.

Beyond Saadya’s role as the J’s executive point of contact, Saadya formulates and implements office activities and procedures in support of the J’s executives.

Saadya recently spearheaded an internal changeover of the J’s meeting management system; she works on event and hospitality planning, security setup and logistics, and supports the executive team and the JCC Board of Directors.  With all the work she does coordinating event logistics...

Apr03
Love and Religion class
by admin
Jewish Life

When Love and Religion Mingle

Are you in a Jewish interfaith relationship? Do you need help navigating the challenges and opportunities of love and religion?

The JCC and Jewish Community Services (JCS) are thrilled to be offering an exciting new workshop entitled Love & Religion, which seeks to create a safe, welcoming environment encouraging Jewish interfaith couples to examine their hopes and fears about the role that a Jewish identity will play in their life.

In this four-session workshop, couples that are seriously dating, engaged, or newly married will meet and share perspectives with each other to address similar questions.

The program was created by Marion Usher, an interfaith couples expert. It will be led by Beth Land Hecht, LCSW-C, Senior Manager, Community Engagement, for...