You don’t have to be raised in Baltimore to read Take a Walk Through My Shtetl (2025), the new book by Eli W. Schlossberg – but it helps! I have known the author’s mother, Mrs. Greta Schlossberg, a”h, and his sister, Aviva Sondhelm, since childhood, so the book held special interest for me, but I think that anyone with an interest in nostalgia, local Jewish history, and wise advice would find it intriguing.
In his previous book, My Shtetl
Baltimore (2017), Schlossberg recounted the history of the Baltimore Jewish
community, including his childhood, as well as fascinating personalities,
institutions, and incidents of the past 65 years. Now, with Take a Walk
Through My Shtetl, Mr. Schlossberg continues the story of life in religious
Baltimore, his “shtetl,” on a more personal level. His new book is a
tribute to the unique community that is Baltimore – including the continuity of
German (Yekkish) minhagim (customs) and the ability of the kehilla
to grow and prosper under all circumstances. It is not at all limited to the
world of German Jews, however. All of us living within the eiruv and donating
to Ahavas Yisrael – the author’s beloved community tzedaka organization,
where he is trustee – are all members of Schlossberg’s shtetl.
The Schlossberg parents were from Germany,
and the story of how they escaped from the Nazis in the late 30s, just in time,
is a series of miracles. Greta Goldschmidt appealed to the antisemitic American
ambassador to England, Joseph Kennedy (father of the future president), for a
visa for her parents and herself – and succeeded. Thus, Greta Schlossberg was
able to come to America.
Eli starts with timeless practical advice
to his children on what to look for in shidduch. This was originally
written and presented to his children when they were teenagers; it can now
benefit parents who are facing the “shidduch parsha.” He boils it down
to personality, frumkeit, mishpacha, tachlis, and parnassa,
with each heading elaborated.
The chapter on financial issues discusses
the need to teach children to save from a young age. Tzedaka was
collected every day in school, a penny a day. (In those days, the lowest
denomination was a penny, and there is an actual expression, “a penny for your
thoughts”! Now the price of your thoughts is a nickel. Inflation! And pennies
are no longer even being minted.)
Schlossberg’s theme in the chapter “Dollars
and Good Old Common Sense” is how to maintain a middle-class lifestyle
consistent with one’s obligation to pay day school tuition, seminary, and give tzedaka.
There is an important section on credit cards and the necessity of paying the
balance within the 30-day interest-free period. More real-life issues are
covered, such as getting financial advice from a professional, money management
from an early age, giving tzedaka, and chinuch of children. He
issues a warning on student loans, which will one day need to be paid back.
Additional topics are life insurance, a marriage financial plan, the cost of a
wedding, plus looking for a job, buying a car, diversifying one’s investments,
and, of course, don’t buy a home you cannot afford.
I wish this book had a table of contents
or index; it covers so many interesting topics. But maybe it doesn’t need one
as you can open it anywhere and find useful and interesting information. I
found things I’d like to delve into further on every page of Take a Walk
Through My Shtetl. So will you. This book is like listening to a wise
father. I’d suggest it as a gift for all young people.
Eileen
Pollock has had light verse and letters published in the New York Times. Her
letters have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, as well as opinion
pieces in the Baltimore Sun, the Juilliard Journal, and the
Washington Times. This is her first appearance in Where What When.
