Descendants' Day Project Past Events
DESCENDANTS' DAY 2021
~ An All-Day Virtual Event ~
Sunday, 23 May 2021
9:30 am - 5:30 pm
Celebrating the Old, the New, and the Journey In-between
- Scholar-in-Residence - Dr. Laura Shaw Frank
- Jewish Genealogy Workshop - Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff
- Virtual Walking Tour of the Historic B'nai Israel Cemetery: Famous Figures who Lie at Rest Here and the Stories they Tell - Fred Shoken
and more!
Tuesday, 20 April 2021
7:00 - 8:30 pm
ONLINE EVENT
Who doesn’t love a good story? The Descendants’ Day project is mining the rich vein of our archives for such stories, many that haven’t been told in a generation or more.
Join the neighbors in our virtual front room on this night of tales, and listen to some of the forgotten stories that have made up the rich loam of Jonestown life.
Our storytellers come from the network of descendants, researchers, and tradition bearers excited about the history and future of Jonestown.
Are you one of them? Do you have a story to tell? If so, we are looking for you. Write to us at office@jewishdowntown.org.
Stories of the Old Neighborhood
featuring Eli W. Schlossberg and Rabbi Herbert Mandl, PhD
Moderated by Rabbi Etan Mintz, B'nai Israel Congregation
Tuesday, 19 January 2021
7:00 pm - 8:15 pm
(Online session)
This event was recorded. To watch the unedited recording
click here or the image below.
Eli W. Schlossberg, author of My Shtetl Baltimore,
and
Rabbi Herbert Mandl, Ph.D
Rabbi Emeritus, Kehilath Israel Synagogue, Kansas City, Missouri,
a native Baltimorean who attended B’nai Israel as a youth
explored tales of life in old Jewish Baltimore
B’nai Israel - Going on 150:
What is the secret to our longevity?
Fred Shoken, Baltimore historian
Wednesday, 2 September 2020,
7 - 8:30 pm (Online session)
This event was recorded. To watch the unedited recording click here or the image below.
B'nai Israel is not only one of the oldest Jewish congregations in Baltimore, but one of the few active congregations in the country holding regular services in a synagogue built before 1880.
As both our congregation and synagogue building approach 150 years this decade, how did we achieve this feat? What lessons can be learned from our unique history?
Why History Matters: Even Especially the Difficult Parts
Wednesday, 22 July 2020
7 - 8:30 pm
(Online session)
This event was recorded. To watch the unedited recording click here or the image below.
Marvin Pinkert, Executive Director
The Jewish Museum of Maryland
Tracie Guy-Decker, Deputy Director
The Jewish Museum of Maryland
Tracie Guy-Decker and Marvin Pinkert engaged in a conversation about two pivotal moments, a century apart, in the history of race and racism in American.
They addressed myths and deepened the conversation about Jewish roles in both the Civil War and the civil rights movement. Marvin talked about Rabbi Illoway who preached in favor of slavery in the Lloyd Street Synagogue. Tracie talked about the desegregation of Gwynn Oak Park in 1963.
Together they illuminated the ways understanding those precedents can help us navigate this "unprecedented" time.
This program is generously supported
by the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Fund of The Associated
Ann Shinnar
Marc & Debbie Attman
Steve Attman
Michael Stein
Ellen Kahan Zager,
The B'nai Israel Historical Preservation Society,
Dr. Bruce Coopersmith, Chair
and an anonymous donor
