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My Shtetl Baltimore hall with a shiny, red apple on the end of our flags.
by Eli W. Schlossberg Now, through Eli’s book, I see many “pictures” of the
A Book Review past I experienced along with new pictures I didn’t know
about, which increase my love for this community I have
Aby Ruby Katz recently rejoined. He speaks warmly of Shabbos and Yom
t his annual teshuva drasha, on the Thursday evening Tov in the Jonquil Avenue neighborhood and mentions
before Yom Kippur, Rabbi Yissachar Frand thanked Eli many well-known families. My Shtetl Baltimore is packed
Schlossberg for his work in bringing the yearly lecture with memories of Eli’s own family with their Jewish-Ger-
to the community. Then he congratulated Eli on his man heritage, their food business, and their love of music.
new book, My Shtetl Baltimore. “It’s always a great He writes, “As a family, we communicated through music.
pleasure to take a walk down memory lane,” said Rab- We even performed as a family at a Bais Yaakov function,
bi Frand. in costume – just like the von Trapp family in the Sound
I would add that this book – 557 generous pages of reminis- of Music.”
cence, nostalgia, history, and memoir – is definitely a pleasure
to read, even for someone who didn’t grow up in Baltimore’s My Shtetl Baltimore book covers so much – even his moth-
frum community. Raised in the ’40s and ’50s on Shirley Av- er’s special recipes and her remarkable garden. He writes,
enue in lower Park Heights, I wasn’t frum (yet). But in those “We had a small garden behind our home on Linden Avenue,
days, traditional Judaism influenced the whole community – but it was only when we moved to Jonquil Avenue, in 1958,
even the non-observant. Perhaps that’s why Eli Schlossberg’s that Mom began to plant what was to become an incredible
memories spark mine. garden.” One part was a vegetable patch where Eli’s mother
taught him how to grow watermelons, corn, tomatoes, cu-
He talks about Agudas Achim Congregation on Park Heights cumbers, herbs, and more. Another area was a flower garden
Avenue across the street from Manny’s Fish Market and a dry with many colorful varieties, and, of course, there was her fa-
goods store owned by his aunt and uncle. I remember Manny’s mous and “most precious fruit-bearing esrog tree.”
and especially Agudas Achim, where I attended Sunday school.
My brother Julian, who attended Isaac Davidson Hebrew Most of all, My Shtetl Baltimore honors those who held on
School, had an aliyah for his bar mitzvah at Agudas Achim. And to the Torah as a “tree of life” and worked with all Jews to bring
on Simchas Torah, both of us marched in the downstairs social shalom. That’s why even someone who is not frum or lives in
another community could appreciate this chronicle of Jewish
life in Baltimore.
In a section called “Personalities and Mentors Along the
Way,” many beloved Baltimore rabbis and lay leaders are
highlighted. Added to this is a history of shuls, schools, and
institutions, such as the Baltimore Mikvah, Shearith Isra-
el, the Tamudical Academy (TA), Bais Yaakov, and Ner Israel
Rabbinical College. What a surprise I had when I came to
a chapter of biographies of the students in TA’s first, 1947,
graduating class and read that Esther Grossblatt rented
rooms in her home on East Pratt Street to pay two dollars a
month tuition for her grandson Rabbi Nachman Klein, z”l,
and each of her eight grandchildren’s education at TA. My
children’s father, z”l, was one of her eineklach; my children
therefore also benefited from her sacrifice.
More surprises fill this upbeat volume. Several chapters,
contributed by others, add interest, as does a memorable pic-
ture album at the end of the book.
Writing his own “haskama,” Eli shares the principle that
he follows in his writing as taught to him by a great posek:
“If it is the truth – the emes – and does not, chas veshalom,
harm or offend anyone, you can write it.” In My Shtetl Bal-
timore, Eli W. Schlossberg lives up to this creed. His book
contains a lifetime of observations and notes recreated in a
loving history of his family and Jewish Baltimore. It is a book
to treasure.u
My Shtetl Baltimore by Eli W. Schlossberg, (Targum), Jeru-
salem, 2017, is available at local bookstores and on Amazon.
com.
62 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
by Eli W. Schlossberg Now, through Eli’s book, I see many “pictures” of the
A Book Review past I experienced along with new pictures I didn’t know
about, which increase my love for this community I have
Aby Ruby Katz recently rejoined. He speaks warmly of Shabbos and Yom
t his annual teshuva drasha, on the Thursday evening Tov in the Jonquil Avenue neighborhood and mentions
before Yom Kippur, Rabbi Yissachar Frand thanked Eli many well-known families. My Shtetl Baltimore is packed
Schlossberg for his work in bringing the yearly lecture with memories of Eli’s own family with their Jewish-Ger-
to the community. Then he congratulated Eli on his man heritage, their food business, and their love of music.
new book, My Shtetl Baltimore. “It’s always a great He writes, “As a family, we communicated through music.
pleasure to take a walk down memory lane,” said Rab- We even performed as a family at a Bais Yaakov function,
bi Frand. in costume – just like the von Trapp family in the Sound
I would add that this book – 557 generous pages of reminis- of Music.”
cence, nostalgia, history, and memoir – is definitely a pleasure
to read, even for someone who didn’t grow up in Baltimore’s My Shtetl Baltimore book covers so much – even his moth-
frum community. Raised in the ’40s and ’50s on Shirley Av- er’s special recipes and her remarkable garden. He writes,
enue in lower Park Heights, I wasn’t frum (yet). But in those “We had a small garden behind our home on Linden Avenue,
days, traditional Judaism influenced the whole community – but it was only when we moved to Jonquil Avenue, in 1958,
even the non-observant. Perhaps that’s why Eli Schlossberg’s that Mom began to plant what was to become an incredible
memories spark mine. garden.” One part was a vegetable patch where Eli’s mother
taught him how to grow watermelons, corn, tomatoes, cu-
He talks about Agudas Achim Congregation on Park Heights cumbers, herbs, and more. Another area was a flower garden
Avenue across the street from Manny’s Fish Market and a dry with many colorful varieties, and, of course, there was her fa-
goods store owned by his aunt and uncle. I remember Manny’s mous and “most precious fruit-bearing esrog tree.”
and especially Agudas Achim, where I attended Sunday school.
My brother Julian, who attended Isaac Davidson Hebrew Most of all, My Shtetl Baltimore honors those who held on
School, had an aliyah for his bar mitzvah at Agudas Achim. And to the Torah as a “tree of life” and worked with all Jews to bring
on Simchas Torah, both of us marched in the downstairs social shalom. That’s why even someone who is not frum or lives in
another community could appreciate this chronicle of Jewish
life in Baltimore.
In a section called “Personalities and Mentors Along the
Way,” many beloved Baltimore rabbis and lay leaders are
highlighted. Added to this is a history of shuls, schools, and
institutions, such as the Baltimore Mikvah, Shearith Isra-
el, the Tamudical Academy (TA), Bais Yaakov, and Ner Israel
Rabbinical College. What a surprise I had when I came to
a chapter of biographies of the students in TA’s first, 1947,
graduating class and read that Esther Grossblatt rented
rooms in her home on East Pratt Street to pay two dollars a
month tuition for her grandson Rabbi Nachman Klein, z”l,
and each of her eight grandchildren’s education at TA. My
children’s father, z”l, was one of her eineklach; my children
therefore also benefited from her sacrifice.
More surprises fill this upbeat volume. Several chapters,
contributed by others, add interest, as does a memorable pic-
ture album at the end of the book.
Writing his own “haskama,” Eli shares the principle that
he follows in his writing as taught to him by a great posek:
“If it is the truth – the emes – and does not, chas veshalom,
harm or offend anyone, you can write it.” In My Shtetl Bal-
timore, Eli W. Schlossberg lives up to this creed. His book
contains a lifetime of observations and notes recreated in a
loving history of his family and Jewish Baltimore. It is a book
to treasure.u
My Shtetl Baltimore by Eli W. Schlossberg, (Targum), Jeru-
salem, 2017, is available at local bookstores and on Amazon.
com.
62 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
