Speaking before dozens of Jewish community members Sunday at the 100th anniversary of a Jewish lodge, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz related recent events in Baltimore and South Carolina to those the ancestors of lodge members faced.
"The confederate flag is to African-Americans as the swastika flag is to us," he told the group gathered to recognize the Menorah Lodge of B'nai B'rith.
Kamenetz, who said he had been associated with the Lodge for 25 years, has been trying to change the name of Robert E. Lee Park in Baltimore County to Lake Roland Park. He said he has the support of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, but is surprised how many residents have called his office to complain about the proposed name change. "Most are anonymous calls, but some leave their name and number," he said.
The B'nai B'rith is an international Jewish association that began in 1843 as a charity network to help German-Jewish immigrants. Today, it fights anti-Semitism, promotes the state of Israel and helps out after humanitarian disasters.
Baltimore's Menorah Lodge began in 1915 and was once led by Meyer Cardin, a former Baltimore judge and the father of U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin. Former Lodge president Jeff Legum, 76, said the group had around 2,000 members in the 1970s, but today, it hovers around 50 members. Part of the decline is due to the spin-off of other Jewish groups which have attracted younger would-be recruits, he said. For example, the B'nai B'rith gave birth to the Anti-Defamation League, an international human rights group, and the Hillel, a collective of Jewish college students.
"Like all children, they don't call or write," joked Ira Bartfield, the international senior vice president of the B'nai B'rith, who spoke at the event.
Much of the crowd that gathered at Pikeville's Milk and Honey Bistro had been members of the lodge for 30 or more years, and two were descendants of the original founders.
Felix Jacob, son of one of the Lodge's founders, Aaron Jacob, said the group is actively recruiting new members. One of its attractions, he said, is monthly meetings at the Park Heights Jewish Community Center featuring authors and community leaders.
Melvin Sykes, 91, son of another Lodge founder, Baltimore Judge Philip Sykes, said events like their annual summer retreats in western North Carolina can be "sexy." This year, for example, he said Ruth Westheimer, aka "Dr. Ruth," will be talking about "Heavenly Sex" at the retreat.
Kamenetz congratulated the group on its longevity and presented a plaque to co-president Felix Jacob declaring June 28 Menorah Lodge Day in Baltimore County.
He also urged the group to think about what they can do to help inequality issues that still plague the Baltimore community.
"There is a problem of relations between citizens and police," Kamenetz said. "I get that. But there is an economic inequality problem as well."
He said leaders needed to think about how to reach out and include African-Americans — a community that like theirs, was once enslaved and oppressed. He questioned how a boy like the 21-year-old white supremacist who allegedly murdered nine African-Americans in Charleston, S.C., could exist in 2015. One way to encourage change, he said, could be to spur growth for the community by having local landlords accept Section 8 vouchers so that more African-Americans can move out of public housing and into the more diverse and affluent suburbs.
He cited a study that showed the children of parents who moved out of the inner city and into the suburbs with good schools fared better than the children of parents who remained behind.
"It is up to us to stand up to the plate," he told the group.
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