The Jewish levaya, or funeral, is the final kavod and honor that family and friends perform when a loved one passes away. Death under any circumstance is a very difficult and painful experience. The family relies on their rabbi, the funeral home, friends, and a chevra kadisha to help them carry out their duty with the proper love, dignity, and respect for the deceased.

Sol Levinson has been Baltimore’s Jewish funeral home since 1892, and is still run by the family today. Ira Levinson and his son Matt continue the outstanding and compassionate management that their forebears taught them so well. When I interviewed them recently, Ira told me their simple motto, handed down from generation to generation: “We do everything possible to do the right thing. We do whatever we can to address the family’s needs and issues in this time of extreme sorrow and grief.”

I often work with the Levinson family as an Ahavas Yisrael trustee, and I can say that we are fortunate to have such a special organization as Levinson’s performing the burials of our loved ones. I know that the rabbanim of our community feel the same way. The professional staff makes all Jews feel comfortable with Levinson’s compassionate services. This excellence manifests itself in everything they take on: from their comprehensive, educational website to their commitment to personalizing funerals for each family’s needs.

With all Baltimore shuls closed and many people in isolation, the internet has become a conduit for kedusha. Rabbi Binyamin Marwick of Shomrei Emunah was kind enough to explain how his shul is using Zoom for both shiurim and davening.

Zoom, a video-conferencing platform, allows davening “alone together.” Rabbi Marwick davens aloud, and each man in his own home can see and hear the other members of the “minyan.” It is not a minyan in the halachic sense, of course, and one cannot say kaddish or chazaras hashas or lein the Torah. But it does allow a group of people to daven at one time and to feel connected to each other and the community.

It’s February, and I’m basking in sunny Century Village Deerfield Beach. Welcome to Florida! Century Village is a senior (55 and older) gated community, a nine-minute drive to a beautiful sandy beach. Approximately 16,000 residents reside in 8,500 condos. Fifty-five percent of them are Jewish, eight percent of whom are frum. Most of the Orthodox residents live near the shul.

In the winter months, over 1,200 persons attend the Young Israel on Shabbos morning, making YIDB (Young Israel of Deerfield Beach) the second largest Young Israel in America. Three minyanim are held: a hashkama minyan, followed by a Sephard minyan, and then regular Shabbos Ashkenaz minyan, where the Rav delivers an inspiring drasha. With almost 120 men attending, the Daf Yomi class is America’s largest. Led by Rabbi Yisroel Edelman, the shul hosts many shiurim for both men and women, Torah lectures on all levels, and outstanding scholars-in-residence for its 1,000 members, making this community a true makom Torah.

As a child, I often accompanied my mom when she went food shopping. There was no kosher supermarket, and chain stores did not have a largeAs  selection of kosher products, so my mom frequented stores like Liebes, Jack’s grocery, Wasserman and Lemberger butcher, and Friedman’s Fish and Produce. I loved going with my mom and buying my favorite culinary delicacies. Jack’s grocery was located in the Pimlico area near the race track. Surrounding it were other shops, like Frank’s shoe store, Lipnick’s Hardware, Liberty TV, Froehlich’s Schubert Music, Brafman’s Rembrandt Art and Frames and, later, the Hobby Shop, Max Jacob’s Upholstery, Bernard Shear Optical, Pep Boys. Himmelfarb’s and Luskins appliance were a few blocks away. There was no Reisterstown Road Mall yet, so Pimlico served as a main shopping area for those in the Upper Park Heights corridor.

Spending a few hours with 92-year-old Baltimorean Morty Esterson in his home office, I gazed at the many plaques, trophies, proclamations, commendations, and citations adorning the walls of his office. Here is a man who has had a huge impact on the Jewish community as well as on the greater Baltimore community during his long and illustrious career. A master educator in Baltimore City Schools as well as Hebrew schools, he was also a pioneer of special education services, and has held many positions of leadership in Jewish education and community institutions and initiatives. Morty Esterson is simply a exceptional person to all who know and have worked with him. It is people like him who laid the foundation for frumkeit and chesed in Baltimore. Morty Esterson is totally genuine, a sincere and “ehrlich” mensch with an unassuming and delightfully upbeat personality.

I have served as a very proud member of the board of Pearlstone from its inception in 2001. Pearlstone, today, in 2018, is a 180-acre nature retreat and conference center as well as a working organic farm complex just 24 minutes from Pikesville. Once you arrive at Pearlstone, driving through woods-lined roads and bountiful cornfields, you are in the picturesque outdoors, far from the hustle-and-bustle of city and suburban living. You have entered the scenic rural countryside. You will witness lovely sunsets at dusk and marvel at the bright stars and vast heavens by night. You may sing and roast kosher marshmallows at a campfire or relax by toasty fireplaces in our lobby or lounges. Then you will experience a deep and restful sleep in one of our newly-redecorated guest bedrooms. You will be awakened by the crowing of the Pearlstone roosters in the morning. You will enjoy watching the Pearlstone goats grazing in grassy pastures and squawking chickens running about. The air is fresh, so take deep breaths and suck it all in. Take a morning stroll and visit the large pond for boating (soon to be licensed for fishing), and the two large outdoor swimming pools. Visit our farm and gardens and pick strawberries and blueberries. Welcome to the Pearlstone!