I remember the feeling well, although it has been a while – that feeling of being torn, as a young mother, between wanting to go to shul on Rosh Hashanah but not knowing when I should, or even if I should. Although I am not much of a shul goer, it just didn’t feel like Rosh Hashanah if I couldn’t hear shofar blowing in a shul setting or the heartfelt Musaf melodies of my youth. Some years, a neighbor and I would take turns watching each other’s children, giving us both a chance to daven in shul for a short while. To shed light for those women who feel conflicted, as I did, I turned to some of the inspirational rebbetzins with whom Baltimore is blessed for their valued opinions.

In the book The Maggid at the Podium, Rabbi Paysach Krohn tells the story of a slaughterhouse in Argentina that opened every day at 5:00 a.m. and closed at 6:00 in the evening. The owner, Zev, stayed until 8:00, when he would turn off the lights, drive to the guardhouse, say good-night to Pedro, the security officer. Then he and Pedro would leave, each in his own car. One night, Zev stopped at the guardhouse as usual and said, “Time to go home, Pedro.”

“We can’t go,” Pedro replied. “Rabbi Berkowitz, one of the shochtim, hasn’t left yet.”

“Who made the dessert?” the rebbetzin whispered to me from across the crowded sheva brachos table. We were in the middle of the main course. Did she want to know if it was kosher? I wondered. Little did I realize that she was asking because the dessert was missing! None was to be found in the kitchen! Recognizing an emergency, I quickly checked the text message history on my cell phone to shed light on the subject. It indicated that dessert for the 40 guests had been delegated to a woman sitting at the other end of my table. When I consulted her, she said that the job was originally hers but was then given to someone else. She was not sure to whom.

I have always been fascinated by stories of life on the American frontier, as described by Laura Ingalls Wilder in her Little House in the Big Woods children’s classics. The author mentions her mother making candles, soap, flour, butter, cheese, and bread, and even weaving the fabric to sew their clothing. Her father knew how to dig for fresh water, build a house out of prairie sod, plant crops, and shoot partridges and rabbits for the family’s meals. In contrast to these pioneers, if we landed in the prairie without our indoor plumbing, effortless heating, and supermarkets, most of us would be about as independent as newborn babies!

The denizens of the Old West were self-sufficient by necessity, but even today, some people choose to do things the old fashioned way – just because. Although they can buy vegetables in the supermarket and readymade clothes in the mall, they prefer to plant a garden and sew a wardrobe. Although they can hire a caterer and a cleaning lady, they prefer to cook for their own simchas and clean their own houses.

It has been over 10 months since my organization, Maryland Smart Meter Awareness (MSMA), began a concerted effort to educate the Jewish community in Baltimore about the problems with smart meters. Since that time, a great deal has happened. Most significantly, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) issued its final decision allowing Maryland ratepayers to opt out of receiving a smart meter and to instead keep their analog electric meters. This was a major victory, as initially the PSC was opposed to allowing opt-outs regardless of the adverse health impacts and privacy violations. It took a concerted effort by MSMA and some of our legislators (most notably Senator Delores Kelley of Baltimore County and Delegate Glen Glass of Harford County) to address smart meter problems and give these issues the attention they deserved. In response, over 40,000 Maryland residents requested a deferral from a smart meter. All these efforts help convince the PSC that this was a serious issue.

Primary elections are Tuesday, June 24, and Torah-observant Jews are flourishing in local Republican politics. Ruth Goetz and Rudy Stoler join Ari Winokur to represent Northwest Baltimore’s Jewish communities and our neighbors on the Republican State Central Committee. We work tirelessly in shuls, neighborhoods, and businesses to promote conservative policies and to bring our community’s interests to the attention of our government officials.

During the 2012 election, our sign-waving and leafleting nearly flipped the nationwide Jewish presidential vote, delivering over 60 percent for Romney-Paul at Pikesville High School! We spend our free time registering voters, waving signs, attending festivals and rallies, and representing Jewish interests to local conservative clubs and politicians. Our districts extend from Reisterstown out to Ruxton-Riderwood, and south as far as Pikesville, and even Cheswolde and Mount Washington in the City.