Jewish Community Center

There's no uncertainty in the Lindenbaums' living room about what holiday they are celebrating this year. The husband and wife once made merry in winter with a Christmas tree for Amanda, who was raised Catholic, and a Hanukkah menorah for Heath, who grew up Jewish. But now menorah stickers cling to the windows of their Pikesville home, which is strung indoors and out with blue and white lights in preparation for the holiday beginning tonight. Amanda and her husband decided last year to maintain a Jewish home for their two children, though they will still visit her parents for breakfast on Dec. 25. "We have a festive home, but it's not a Christmas tree home," she said.

To shield or to prepare kids?It seems eerily "beshert," which is Hebrew for "meant to be," that I opened my newspaper Aug. 11 to read an article about one mother's attempt to shield her children from a horrific murder across the street from her home ("A mother's shield," Aug. 11).This mother is petrified that her 7- and 10-year-old daughters will learn the truth about this violence so close to home and describes how she evades questions about Littleton, Colo., Kosovo and other acts of violence.

In a groundbreaking collaboration, the Owings Mills Jewish Community Center and three nearby synagogues are teaming up to offer Jewish U, a wide-ranging three-month series of adult education courses.Beginning this week, Jewish U will offer courses in Hebrew, Biblical studies, marriage and family, and other topics related to Judaism."This is quite innovative," said Michael Wegier, the JCC's director of Jewish Education and coordinator of Jewish U, which is planned to operate each year from January to March.

Behind the scenes at Olney TheatreEver wonder what really goes on backstage? Go behind the scenes at the Olney Theatre Center on Saturday for its annual open house. Take self-guided tours of the costume, set and performance areas, or learn some tricks of the acting trade from the center's residing touring company, the National Players. You can also browse the costume shop flea market, see a costume and prop exhibit and peruse the information tables on the theater's programs, including student internships and volunteer opportunities.

WASHINGTON -- With the sting of anti-Semitic violence fresh in the nation's consciousness, dozens of Jewish leaders pressed President Clinton last night to do more to monitor, infiltrate and thwart hate groups around the nation.The 28 leaders of Jewish groups who met with Clinton for nearly two hours last night had previously planned the White House meeting. But the shooting this week of five people at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles gave urgency to the discussion. The suspect, Buford O. Furrow Jr., who is also charged in the killing of a Filipino-American postal worker, is a white supremacist who authorities say targeted Jews.

PLACES OF worship used to be considered integral to a community. In some suburban communities, however, churches and synagogues now sometimes are derided as intrusive. Neighbors say these institutions -- some much larger than the places they replace -- will alter the look and feel of their surroundings.The issue arose in recent years when Baltimore's historic Bethel A.M.E. Church wanted to build in Baltimore County; when Riverdale Baptist, a 2,000-member congregation in Prince George's County, sought to move to southern Anne Arundel; and when First Baptist Church of Guilford proposed a new sanctuary-community center, which the Howard County Board of Appeals approved last fall amid controversy -- and then inexplicably rejected this month.

Usually an artist's art is more interesting than his life. That's not the case with Joseph Bau.Now having his first show in this country at the Jewish Community Center, Bau was born in Krakow, Poland, in 1920 and began to study art in 1938. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 interrupted his studies. He was confined to the Jewish ghetto in Krakow and was subsequently sent to the Plaszow and Gross-Rosen concentration camps. He had taken a course in Gothic printing, a style which the Nazis liked, and they employed him making charts.

In yesterday's Live section, the address was incorrect for "Park Heights: Lives Along an Avenue," an exhibit running Sept. 2 through Nov. 29 at the Jewish Community Center's Norman and Sarah Brown Art Gallery. The correct address is 5700 Park Heights Ave. For information, call 410-542-4900, Ext. 239.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 8/28/98

In 1990, New York artist and architectural historian Jeremy Nadel began painting a series of synagogues in the New York area which had been abandoned, neglected or converted to use by other religious denominations. On Tuesday, a show of the paintings, "The Synagogues of Nadel," will go on exhibit at the Jewish Community Center. Aside from the New York synagogues, the exhibit will include a Nadel painting of a former Baltimore synagogue, Shaarei Zion, at 3459 Park Heights Ave. ++ On Monday, the evening before the show opens, Nadel will give a slide show and talk, "Synagogues: More than Monuments of Culture?"

"A Jewish Literary Feast" kicks off the Jewish Community Center's 1998 Jewish Book Festival Sunday evening at the Gordon Center For Performing Arts. You'll be able to meet, speak with and have books signed by national and local authors and enjoy light fare and music. Among the authors expected to attend are Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, author of "From Beirut to Jerusalem"; Burton Visotzky, whose seminars on the Jewish Theological Seminary inspired Bill Moyers' "Genesis" series on public television; Gil Marks, a Jewish cookbook author; and Aaron Levin, author of "Testament."

Local Jewish leaders voted Wednesday to open a community center in Owings Mills on Saturdays, drawing expressions of both hope and sadness from across Baltimore's diverse Jewish community. The issue has highlighted a deep divide between the Orthodox and the rest of the Jewish community, and after the vote by the board of directors of the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Greater Baltimore, leaders on both sides said they would work to improve communications. After weeks of debate, the Associated board voted 97 to 33 to allow the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore to open its Owings Mills location on Saturdays - the Jewish sabbath - beginning June 6. "The decision will give the JCC more of an opportunity to serve Jewish people in the Owings Mills area who ... do not automatically affiliate with Jewish organizations," said JCC President Louis "Buddy" Sapolsky.

Opponents of a controversial plan to open the Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills on Saturday are planning a rally this weekend in defense of the Jewish Sabbath. "It's not a negative rally, it's a positive rally to cause awareness of the sacredness of the observance of the Sabbath," said Eli Schlossberg, an organizer of the event set for noon Sunday at Northwestern High School in Park Heights. From sundown Friday each week until nightfall Saturday, Orthodox and some other Jews observe Shabbat by refraining from work, handling money, driving a car, answering the telephone or operating electrical appliances.

State won't charge for basic crabbing permit Maryland officials have dropped plans to charge a fee when requiring previously unlicensed recreational crabbers to register with the state. The Department of Natural Resources initially proposed charging $2 for permits issued to waterfront property owners who hang crab pots off their docks or those who use dip nets along the shore. Draft regulations released this week say registration would be free for the new "basic" recreational crabbing license and for anyone crabbing from their own property.

CHARIOT PARADE History meets the present at Baltimore's sixth annual Hare Krishna Rathayatra Chariot Parade, India's ancient festival of chariots. A 30-foot-high hand-pulled chariot will travel on Light Street while performers play music, dance and sing. The Festival of India commences after the parade reaches McKeldin Square. ....................... The parade begins at noon Saturday behind the Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St. McKeldin Square is at the Inner Harbor, Light and Pratt streets.

There's no uncertainty in the Lindenbaums' living room about what holiday they are celebrating this year. The husband and wife once made merry in winter with a Christmas tree for Amanda, who was raised Catholic, and a Hanukkah menorah for Heath, who grew up Jewish. But now menorah stickers cling to the windows of their Pikesville home, which is strung indoors and out with blue and white lights in preparation for the holiday beginning tonight. Amanda and her husband decided last year to maintain a Jewish home for their two children, though they will still visit her parents for breakfast on Dec. 25. "We have a festive home, but it's not a Christmas tree home," she said.

'KIDS 2 KIDS CARNIVAL' Chances are your kid loves rides, games, craft activities and carnival foods. So, chances are your kid will have a ball at the "Kids 2 Kids Carnival" at the Rosenbloom Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills Sunday. The sixth annual carnival offers kids an afternoon of riding down a giant slide, jumping around a moon bounce, riding a carousel, playing bean-bag toss, taking aim at the dunk tank, running an obstacle course, laying it down for the bowling challenge, creating a sand-art masterpiece and crafting other works of art. All foods will be kosher and will include hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, snacks and drinks.

Banking and finance The Columbia Bank announced that Bill Gellatly joined the Howard County bank as a vice president and manager of mortgage banking. Education College of Notre Dame of Maryland named Patricia M. Dwyer as associate vice president of academic affairs for the North Baltimore Catholic institution. Health care Brightview Senior Living appointed Brian Engle as vice president of operations, Ross Dingmanto as regional vice president, Leslie Robinson as a regional manager, and Nancy Abramson as marketing and sales assistant.

JEWISH FILMS // To tide us over until the next Baltimore Jewish Film Festival (scheduled to open April 1), the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore is holding CineFest, three films over the next five weeks, all centering on Jewish themes.The mini-festival begins Thursday with Le Grand Role, a comedy from French director Steve Suissa, in which a young actor and his friends compete for the lead role in a Yiddish version of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Peter Coyote plays the director they have to impress.

The eager way a glittery-eyed kid at a South London synagogue tries to lure our cricket-loving hero to a study group by saying they'll be talking about sex; the moment his German-Jewish mother blurts out her bond with her new Jamaican neighbors because she, too, is an immigrant. These casual revelations from Wondrous Oblivion, tomorrow's kick-off presentation of Baltimore's Jewish Film Festival, epitomize the off-hand humor and insight to be gained from intimate depictions of a subculture - one of this festival's specialties.

In Baltimore City Evening walk today honors those affected by cancer The Maryland chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will holds its sixth annual Baltimore Light the Night Walk tonight at the Inner Harbor. the lives of people affected by cancer. Participants will carry flickering red-and-white balloons. Food, live music and entertainment is planned, and more than 1,000 people are expected to help raise over $100,000. Seven-year-old Mason Maddox will be the societys Baltimore youth ambassador.