Sarah Bickford is a young member of our community, a former Bais Yaakov student and former teacher at the JCC and Khal Chasidim childcare programs. Tamar Schulman, director of Khal Chassidim daycare said that Sarah is a much beloved, creative, and thrifty teacher.

Unfortunately, Sarah cannot work anymore. After a severe illness, her kidneys no longer function properly, and she must spend most of her time taking care of her health. Sarah’s diet is very restricted, and she is often very tired and weak. To stay alive, she must go to dialysis three times a week for three-and-a-half hours each time. If the kidneys are not working properly, the dialysis machine does the kidneys’ job of filtering the blood and removing waste products from the body.

Sarah has been accepted into a program at John Hopkins Hospital Transplant Center, which means she will be able to receive kidney if one becomes available. This could take from two to seven years according to the doctors. She must always be prepared to receive a kidney if a suitable donor is found. She works with a nurse transplant coordinator to make sure she is prepared.

Beth Abraham shul, affectionally known as “Hertzberg’s,” is tucked away on a small side street, a simple brick-faced building set back on a green lawn. You could pass it by without ever guessing its history and unique personality among the shuls of Baltimore.

I had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Chava Rosenfeld, the daughter of its first rav, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech, zt”l, and Mrs. Nechama Shifra, a”h, Hertzberg. I was interested to hear from Mrs. Rosenfeld about her parents, her shul, and how life has changed since she was a girl growing up in Forest Park.

Naomi Shabtai dedicated 24 years of her professional life to the Kennedy Krieger Institute, serving as a Service Coordinator for the Kodem Kol program through the Baltimore Infants and Toddlers Program. Her work was not just a career – it was a calling rooted in her deep commitment to her community.

As a proud member of Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community, Naomi understood firsthand the unique needs and cultural sensitivities of the families she served. In 2002, she was approached by her program supervisors with a visionary task: to launch the Kodem Kol program, designed specifically to support Orthodox Jewish families in Baltimore City. At the time, this community was significantly underrepresented in referrals. Thanks to a grant from the Maryland State Department of Education, Naomi took the helm and built the program from the ground up. Her leadership, cultural insight, and unwavering dedication made Kodem Kol a trusted and vital resource.

Naomi made a profound difference in the lives of the families and children she served. Her compassion, advocacy, and tireless efforts helped countless families access the support they needed, often during their most vulnerable moments.

Pirkei Avos starts with three lessons: Be patient with the administration of justice, raise many students, and set a fence around the Torah. (Avos 1:1). Rav Mattisyahu Salomon, zt”l, Mashgiach of the Gateshead Yeshiva and then of Beis Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, lived his life in accordance with these lessons. He judged others favorably, he was a rebbi to thousands across the globe, and he was always looking to protect the kedusha of klal Yisrael.

Rabbi Avrohom Birnbaum has recently written a biography of Rav Mattisyahu (ArtScroll 2025), bringing to the Jewish reading public a collection of beautiful stories demonstrating the humility, warmth, clarity of vision, and boundless love of klal Yisrael’s mashgiach.

A few months after Rav Mattisyahu’s installation as mashgiach ruchni of Beis Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, a group of several of his former students in the Gateshead Yeshivah left their families for a few weeks to spend Elul with Rav Mattisyahu one more time. This was a beautiful reminder of the kesher (connection) these students had with their mashgiach and the impression he left on Jews worldwide. Rav Mattisyahu, the biography, brings us into the home of a man who lived a life of yiras Shamayim, nesius b’ol, and ahavas Torah from a young age.

In August and September 2025, I again had the privilege to volunteer as a staff physical therapist in ADI-Negev Rehabilitation Hospital in Ofakim, Israel. As I have written on these pages previously, I am fortunate to have a skill set which is much in demand in Israel to treat our injured defense force soldiers and civilians since the war began in October 2023. This was my third stint working at the hospital, but this time was different. On this trip, I was struck by the successes of some unexpected members of the rehabilitation medicine team, ones who rarely get the recognition they deserve.

To give some perspective, ADI-Negev Hospital is located in the Otef Aza, the
“Gaza Envelope,” just a few miles from the Gaza border. Most of the soldiers and civilians we treated – including the ones who were injured on October 7^th in Sderot, Ofakim, and Beeri – live or work in the surrounding cities, moshavim, and yishuvim. In fact, some staff and many of the patients know each other from prior experiences, which further enhanced the camaraderie and cheer-leading that went on daily in the clinic. The encouragement of one patient to another to push further and harder was a daily mantra. The clinic’s mood and environment were constantly upbeat despite the severity of the injuries and trauma. A major factor in the positivity that one experiences there is the presence of a remarkable, young, energetic, and cohesive medical and rehabilitation staff. But perhaps the greatest influence in spreading encouragement and cheer in the hospital are the medical clowns.

Tamar and Rochel are both planning an evening out. They are going to the same place, meeting the same person, and spending the same amount of time there. Tamar is looking forward to the event, and Rochel is dreading it. How could the same event bring such different reactions? The answer, of course, is they are going to a PTA meeting. Tamar knows that her child is doing well in school and looks forward to getting a “nachas report.” Rochel is not looking forward to hearing about all the trouble her child is having.

PTA meetings are a longstanding ritual for parents of school-age children – at least they were in my day. Now, though the ritual is the same, the more up-to-date term seems to be PTC, for parent-teacher conferences. Whatever…

Since I enjoy talking to people and collecting their experiences, I thought it would be interesting to survey some parents, as well as children, for their thoughts. It can be difficult to reach people, however, so imagine my joy when I found myself in the JCC locker room with representatives of three schools. I had a great conversation opener and soon found that they had definite opinions about PTA meetings.

The overwhelming majority of the children in our community go to school; it is an expected part of life. But Baltimore also has a strong contingent of homeschoolers. A large part of the homeschooling community transfers to regular school for high school, so I thought it would be interesting to hear about that transition from the perspective of some former homeschoolers. This article is about three girls who are all now attending traditional schools.

Naami

Naami* just started going to school this year. As more of her homeschooling friends have started to go to school she wanted to go too, and her main reason is for the social life. Here are her words comparing regular school to homeschool:

“In school, you follow a curriculum, and there is a lot of pressure to stay at the same pace as your classmates. Homeschool lets you go at your own pace and learn pretty much whatever you want.

“There are many, many more social opportunities in school, as opposed to homeschool, where you have a small social life. With school, you get home late, and you also must study a lot. I sometimes feel like I don’t have enough time to myself, and I really wish the school day was a little shorter. In homeschool, I never had to study, but I still learned.”

When Naami was asked if she would homeschool her own children, she answered, “I personally don’t feel like I had the best experience homeschooling, but that was really toward the end, after my siblings and friends started going to school. I think it’s important to consider this if you are planning on homeschooling. Your child will probably have a much better experience if she/he is homeschooled with siblings or other children. I don’t think I will homeschool my own children, because I want them to have the experience I didn’t have. However, it depends very much on the needs of the child.”

In my original article, entitled “The Search for a Rebbe,” I presented some of the major qualifications one should seek in a rebbe or rav – namely, someone who elevates the individual, takes a deep personal interest in him, and whose words resonate. I would like to elaborate on the final qualification.

There is a misconception among some people today that the ideal is to become a carbon copy of one’s rebbe. Such students may feel that if the rebbe is holier, wiser, and a greater scholar than them – it follows that the student should lose his own identity and model himself completely after the rebbe. This, however, is a serious mistake.

Rav Naftali Amsterdam, zt”l, asked his great rebbe, Rav Yisrael Salanter, zt”l, “How can I serve Hashem properly? If I had the mind of the Sha’agos Aryeh, the heart of the Mesillas Yesharim, and the rebbe’s middos, I could serve Hashem. But what am I supposed to do in my present state?” Rav Yisrael famously responded, “My dear Naftali, you are mistaken. It is with your mind, your heart, and your middos that you are supposed to serve Hashem!” Each individual is created with his own personality and a specific set of strengths and challenges. He has his own unique mission in the world that only he can fulfill. It is tragic when one doesn’t even realize that he has his own personal mission.

As a therapist and music teacher who has also had her fair share of days as an elementary school teacher, I’ve seen the challenges of technology surge. We educators and parents are constantly faced with questions: How are we to maintain the values learned in yeshiva alive, and how do we keep up with the rush of instant dopamine that the screens all around us provide?

I read a beautiful idea in the Family First article, “Cradle of Innovation.” Rabbi Zweig shares a thought, in the name of the Alexander Rebbe, on the pasuk, “Binu shnos dor v’dor. The Rebbe translates the word shnos as change. In each generation, he says, it is important to note the changes and challenges of that generation and tailor chinuch accordingly. And I marvel at the magnificent job our rebbeim and morahs are doing, racing to keep up with all the innovations in our surroundings, including smartphones, texting, the internet, and WhatsApp.

Today I interviewed Mrs. Rochel Rochkind, a woman of extraordinary strength who is at the foundation of many key Baltimore community moments.

When did your family arrive in Baltimore?

My mother’s parents moved to Baltimore from New York in 1940, so she moved with them.

What was your experience, being part of the first class of Bais Yaakov of Baltimore?

Bais Yaakov was founded in 1942. My grandmother and mother were listening to the Jewish Hour on the radio and heard amazing things about Bais Yaakov. They were so impressed that they decided to send me there for school. My class was the first to go through the whole system, nursery through twelfth grade. We were eight girls. Now, we are all older, and many of us have children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren in Bais Yaakov.