I know it is election season by the brochures I’ve been getting in the mail and the signs I’ve seen all over the neighborhood promoting people running for various offices. Most of the time, I do not understand what office these people are running for and why I should vote for one over the other. And I wonder what power they have, anyway, once elected? They promise to do everything from getting rid of crime to collecting the garbage more often, but can they really make those things happen?

 This article is an elementary guide to the workings of Maryland politics for those readers who also don’t understand much about it but would like to. If you don’t care, or you already know everything, just skip this. It is not meant for you!

The election on June 26, 2018 is for state as well as county positions. (Baltimore City does not have municipal elections now.) It is a primary election, which means that voters must vote for the slate that matches their registration. Only Democrats can vote for the Democrat candidates, and only Republicans can vote for the Republican candidates. The winners of each party’s primary will then run against each other in November.

Citizens may also register as independents, neither Republican nor Democrat, but then they cannot vote in the primary elections. Since Maryland is a state with a large Democrat population, some races only have Democratic candidates. (For example, in the race for delegates for the 41st district, only Democrats are running.) Even when a Republican is running for an office, in parts of the state, like Baltimore City, he/she is likely to lose the general election in the face of the overwhelming majority of Democrat voters. That means that, in many races, the primary election is more important than the general election. Many people who are inclined to vote Republican therefore register as Democrats, so as to have a voice in choosing the office holder.

Living with Honesty: Based on the Teachings of Harav Yisroel Belsky, zt”l, by Rabbi Moishe Dovid Lebovits and Akiva Lane (Israel Bookshop Publications 2017) is a collection of sheilas on the topic of honesty that Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, zt”l, answered during his lifetime. The approximately 500 questions and answers were compiled into book form by his talmidim. They concern everyday occurrences of modern life, such as jaywalking, aggressive driving, tipping service people, reserving domain names on the internet, and returning airport luggage carts. Just skimming through the vast variety of questions is interesting. It shows how Torah values apply to all arenas of life and are not simply relegated to theoretical learning. Another interesting point that emerges from the randomly chosen questions below is that not everything is necessarily wrong. Sometimes it is acceptable to do something that might not seem to be a hundred percent honest, because it is what is customary and expected.

Recently, our community lost a beloved member, Mrs. Sabina Bodenheimer, a”h. Mrs. Bodenheimer came to Baltimore from Venezuela many years ago and married Louis Bodenheimer. She came from a traditional Jewish family but embraced Yiddishkeit here in Baltimore, She was very careful about keeping all the halachos that her husband taught her, and she accepted the troubles in her life with emuna and bitachon (faith). Although the Bodenheimers never had children of their own, they became honorary members of many Baltimore families.

Mrs. Bodenheimer, otherwise known as Sabina, started her “career” of chesed as a babysitter for a number of Baltimore families. She treated the children for whom she babysat like her own. She celebrated their every milestone, and when they outgrew her services, she continued to participate in their lives by attending their bar mitzvas, graduations, and weddings. When the children grew up, they brought their own children to visit “Bubby Bodenheimer.” One mother recalls, “I remember Sabina buying toys for my kids and making chocolate chip cookies. She asked for their pictures and put them on her mantel. Sometimes she took the children for weekends when we went out of town.”

My mother, Mrs. Paula Eisemann, a”h, passed away yesterday, Sunday, March 4, 2018, in Lakewood, New Jersey, where she was in a rehab unit recovering from a fall at the end of December. Today is the first day of shiva, and I would like to share some thoughts about my mother’s life.  Each person is unique, and I want to share the uniqueness of my mother.

My mother was born in 1932, in Germany, where her father was a rabbi in Berlin. The family escaped from Germany after Kristallnacht, right before the war started. They first went to Switzerland but eventually settled in England, in a small town near London called Dorking. Her mother supported the family by running a boarding house in that small town. My mother’s marriage to my father came about through that boarding house. My father’s family used to frequent the boarding house for vacations, and one of my father’s sisters thought that my mother would be a good match for her brother.

Simchas are many things to many people. While some families love the informality of a backyard barbeque, others are happiest with an over-the-top bash at the biggest hall in town. We all speak a different “simcha language.” What we all have in common is the excitement and joy – and also the stress. Making a simcha, especially for the first time, can be overwhelming. So many issues must be investigated and decided upon: What style of music do we want? How many courses should we serve? Who should the photographer be? And, of course, how much money is this all going to cost!?

When we attend simchas as guests, we don’t necessarily notice or care about the details – until we are the ones making the decisions and spending the money! The first time I noticed centerpieces at a wedding was when I had to choose centerpieces for my own child’s wedding. Agonizing over the choices for weeks, the first thing I looked at when I attended simchas during that time was the middle of the tables!

Getting married in the Orthodox Jewish community is often synonymous with buying a wig. Married women have a mitzva to cover their hair and that is usually done by wearing a wig.

Walking in to Orna’s Wig Salon on Reisterstown Road, one is immediately faced with an entire wall covered with wigs. Dark wigs, blond wigs, and all shades in between. Curly wigs, long wigs, wavy wigs, and short wigs. How are all these wigs made? Are they made by hand, by machine, here in Baltimore or overseas?

Orna has her own line of wigs called “Orna Wigs,” and she is also an expert in wig repair. I asked her to explain how the hair on a wig goes from the head of a woman in Brazil to the head of a woman here in Baltimore.