Around the Community

Baltimore Chesed League - Girls: Weeks Two and Three

Where can you find 70 middle school girls engaged in Chesed on their day off? Only at the Baltimore Chesed League – Girls! Weeks two and three of the league showcased culinary, artistic, organizational, leadership, and horticulture talents. Teams were busy baking and cooking for Bikur Cholim and The Jewish Caring Network, enhancing their Shabbos meals for families in need. Additional teams came together to create multi-sensory Chanukah cards for residents of the ADI Family programs located in Israel. These cards will be hand delivered by the Director of Development for ADI who will be in Baltimore next week.

If you go visit Aventura Assisted Living you will notice beautiful pots of flowers which were put together with the residents to further beautify their rooms and common areas. We even had a team assist the Harmony Challah Bake by measuring and packing up all the flour bags at Rosendorff’s Bakery! And the chesed doesn’t stop there. Girls sorted and wrapped $878.50 of coins for Agudah, helped set up and facilitated Suburban Orthodox’s Cupcakes and Crafts activity, organize the siddurim at Congregation Shomrei Emunah, counted pushka coins for Ahavas Yisroel, and prepared Shabbos Mevorchim bags for elder members of Suburban.

We are incredibly proud of these girls for their enthusiasm and commitment to chesed! Thank you to our team sponsors: Adina B, The Mimi Boutique, Nina Elman Interiors, Simcha Steps, Chic Events by Shira, Leba D. Photography, Pompoms, Perfect Piercing and more, Kinder Krafts, Talint Consulting, and Yehudis Katz Wigs for ensuring our girls have these experiences, Suburban Orthodox Toras Chaim for hosting our league, and to our League sponsor, Northwest Refuse. Stay tuned for more updates from weeks four and five!

Around the Community Baking in Harmony - Inaugural Community Challah Bake was Dough-lightful!

Gala Pirchei Baltimore Banquet Attended by More Than 600

In a beautiful demonstration of unity, over 120 Baltimore women gathered together at the Chabad Israeli Center to partake in the mitzvah of baking and separating challah.

Rachel Gold and Leba Dinovitz organized the inaugural harmony challah bake to showcase the power of women coming together to celebrate this mitzvah as one, regardless of backgrounds and differences.

The evening kicked off with music from the incredibly talented Meira Mandel, Yael Friedman, Sara Leeba Caplin, and continued with Rebetzin Chaya Gurary making the Bracha of hafrshat challah as everyone said amen and had in mind their personal tefilot.

As mentioned in Leba’s speech, we all hope this event will be the spark to ignite a movement of unity and achdut for all Jews because that is the ultimate goal.

We thank everyone who took part in the evening and all our corporate sponsors and volunteers for making this evening happen!

By: Isaac Draiman

BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn

Every year, Pirchei Agudas Yisroel of Baltimore hosts a gala banquet acknowledging and rewarding all the boys that successfully participated in the Succos Hasmada contest. To qualify, each child needed to spend a certain amount of time (age determined), daily, learning our holy Torah over the Succos vacation.

This year, the banquet took place on Sunday, October 17, at the Greengate Jewish Center. Over 600 people attended, including an estimated 450 boys, ages 7-12. The program began with a proud welcome from Pirchei’s director, Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz. As Pirchei is a youth program sponsored by Agudath Israel of Baltimore, Rabbi Mordechai Frankel (assistant Rov at the Agudah) addressed the crowd with an amusing story about the value of Torah review. Mr. Aryeh Berkowitz and some young singers entertained the crowd with their beautiful music until the entire audience erupted in spirited and lively singing.

The highlight of the evening came from Rabbi Mayer Erps, our guest story teller. His hilarious humor and voice depiction of various characters in the story had everyone laughing and thoroughly enjoying. His story came with a message too. Every deed and effort that we do is acknowledged and rewarded from the One above.

The event concluded with raffles and bentching. O’Fishel’s Caterers prepared a scrumptious dinner and the event was all in all very uplifting.

In retrospect, it’s gratifying to know that our children are using their time in such a productive and beneficial way - even when they have a vacation. Let’s be proud of all their accomplishments!

The Jewish Community Football League (JCFL) by “ShimzCars” kicks off 2021 season

On a beautiful Sunday morning in midSeptember, the 2021 season of the “JCFL by Shimz Cars,” began their 10th season.

Prior to the opening week, the league’s 80 players were divided between eight different teams via a draft system, ensuring parity in competition. The teams are each named for their individual team sponsors: All

State – Yaakov Schmell, Berkshire

Bulldogs, Dougies, Iris & Oak Flo-

ral, MyGoods, Reno Safe Homes,

The Construction Company, and Tripping Kosher.

Following the draft, teams were provided with their practical, yet fashionable team jerseys, thanks to their sponsor – Doctor Auto.

Like previous seasons, all eight teams will compete for seven regular season games, with the top four teams facing off in the playoffs. The playoffs winners will then battle each other in the league championship, The Chef Dan Bowl, with each hoping to take home the coveted, Chef Dan Cup.

All 8 teams will play their games at the ActualEyes Fields (at Pikesville Middle).

For a recap of some of the excitement from the first few weeks of the season, keep reading:

Week 1

Berkshire Bulldogs 20 Dougies 6

This week 1 opener presented a matchup of 2 new QBs; Moshe Tuchman for the Berkshire Bulldogs vs AB Reznick of Dougies BBQ & Grill. Both players were veteran All-Star WRs of the JCFL but the 2021 season represented the first time either of them were captaining their respective offenses.

Dougies took an early lead, thanks to a long TD pass from Reznick to WR Oren Bluman. Unfortunately for Dougies, that would be all they could muster for the day on offense, as Berkshire’s defense put the clamps on.

Berkshire’s middle linebacker, Ouriel “Brad” Nafisi, shut down Reznick’s potential running lanes while also helping to force 2 interceptions to CB Shulie Hochman in the first half - one of which occurred in the red zone.

On offense, Tuchman moved the ball well hitting Hochman and rookie WR Mookie Chamdi for first half TDs and a one-point conversion by Moshe Reches, giving Berkshire the lead for good. In the second half, Tuchman hit Hochman for another TD and Chamdi for the extra point, in essence putting the game away.

Berkshire’s rookies shined on the defensive end, with newcomer defensive linemen Shimmy Feintuch and Avromi Freund providing consistent, smothering pressure while CBs Moshe Guttman and Yeshayahu Schwartz shut down the secondary, helping Berkshire close out the game for their first win of the season.

Iris & Oak Floral 27 Reno Safe Homes 6

Iris & Oak Floral started the season with a bang with a dominating 27-6 win over Reno Safe Homes.

Iris & Oak’s QB, Ezra Bregin, connected early with WRs Mordecai Schiermeyer and Jacob Heller for a couple of scores. Bregin followed those up with two running TDs of his own, putting Iris & Oak on top to stay. Their defense showed promise as well with key interceptions by Dovid Eli Traub, Jacob Heller, and Bregin.

Week 2

Allstate – Yaakov Schmell 34 Berkshire Bulldogs 25

In and a back-and-forth game between two teams with championship aspirations, Allstate - Yaakov Schmell was able to pull away from the Berkshire Bulldogs, thanks to a deep TD pass to Menachem Khoshkerman with only two minutes remaining, allowing Allstate to escape with a 34-25 victory.

The first half was a roller coaster as both teams struggled with turnovers. After trading early touchdowns, Berkshire was able to take the lead after an interception by Ouriel “Brad” Nafisi. After another interception, Berkshire had a chance to take a 2 score lead but threw a pick of their own.

Allstate - Schmell responded as QB Avi Yudkowsky ran in his first TD since 2016, tying the game. Nearing halftime, following a huge third down sack by Allstate – Schmell DL Yitzy Seidel, Yudkowsky hit Dr Jonah Schindelheim in the endzone to take a 19-13 lead into the half.

Berkshire managed to cut the lead to 26-25 with 8 minutes remaining but the TD pass to Khoshkerman and a two-point conversion to Avner Shotz put the game away.

Tripping Kosher 44 Dougies 18

In what some (i.e. Chaim Finkelstein) dubbed “The Battle of the Meats,” the defending champions, Tripping Kosher, burned Dougies to a crisp in a lopsided 44-18 victory.

TK QB Chaim Finkelstein threw 6 touchdowns to 4 different receivers, (Levi Zaslow, Yoni Finkelstein, Judah “Speedy” Golub, and Mordy Reches - son of famed Baltimore videographer Jeffrey “JJ” Reches, and a young superstar in the making). The TK defense also played stellar and had 5 interceptions by 4 players (C. Finkelstein, Y. Finkelstein, Zaslow, and Reches).

Dougies was missing several players, including their star QB/S, a WR/CB and a lineman and the high-powered TK offense proved too much to handle.

The Construction Company 32 Reno Safe Homes 18

In maybe the longest game in league history, The Construction Company was able to outlast Reno Safe Homes. Both teams scored on their first possessions before the defenses settled in. The theme of the game was “QB Dan Gutman to WR David Pensak,” who connected on 2 first half TDs, and 3 for the game, all on beautiful, deep passes.

Going into half time, the score was 2513 and it looked like it could be over early but Reno Safe Homes wouldn’t quit. In the 2nd half, RSH cut it a 2-score game after an end-around to WR Josh Zaslow brought them within reach.

That’s when TCC’s defense took over. Pasey Wealcatch was sideline to sideline with flag grab after flag grab. After nearly picking the ball off himself, Wealcatch spent a minute talking with Dovid Seidel and the next play was money. Seidel jumped the route and grabbed the INT.

With one desperation opportunity left, RSH tried a trick play which put the ball in the hands of Josh Zaslow behind the line of scrimmage. But with intense pressure from linemen Simi Willner and Ben Gutman, he was forced into an errant pass that was intercepted by Aron Meister to seal the victory.