So, how are you going to handle all of this economic news?
It’s really more than news, it’s part of our lives now.
It’s over the top and into the realm of serious now.
So what do are you going to do?
Is it a matter of cutting back on the food budget? Is it more than just clipping coupons?
Are you now shopping around for the best price at the pump?
Holding back on the decision to purchase a big ticket item?
Have you met with your spouse, your parents, your children and discussed the economic impact on your most important “business,” your family?
For some it’s a matter of little moves, a cutback in a child’s allowance, less money spent for entertainment, perhaps a decision to buy groceries in bulk and clothing at a discount.
However, for others, it’s about getting the mortgage paid, the tuition taken care of and even the lights and heat paid for.
We are approaching Chanukah, the festival of lights. With this in mind, I am asking you to tell us your stories. How are you adapting to the economic climate we’re in? Maybe your story will give tips or an idea or two to another reader who can in turn pass along the information you’ve provided.
Go ahead and send me your stories and pieces of economic wisdom and strategy to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
We’ll publish your stories on jewishtimes.com and in the print editions.
We all need to help one another during these times of stress.
There are countless ways to do so.
We just need to know what they are.

The days of a white knight in shining armor in the form of the Associated “riding” into a bleak fiscal situation and bailing out a Jewish school in trouble I feel are over.
It was not two weeks ago that I interviewed three key Associated agency heads who talked to me about how the economy has made life so much more difficult for its clients and for some who at one time were donors, but are now clients.
So here we have Yeshivat Rambam. There is rumor, there is speculation. But one thing for sure, it has recently parted company with its executive director, a professional and a person who knows this community. I’ve seen it part company with other staffers as well.
At a local restaurant last week, a parent asked me to sit down with him. I knew nothing of this person’s concerns for the school, yet he spared no detail in his concern for the institution’s future.
My worry is quite simply this. At a time when the Associated is going to be working hard to literally keep Jews fed, housed and employed, how can any Jewish educational institution facing management and fiscal challenges possibly expect a dime out of the Associated, especially since all of this is happening not long after the Associated and Weinberg Foundation handed our schools cold hard money to help them.
Perhaps Rambam should consider eliminating at some point its high school. Perhaps it should work its way back to the original mission and vision that attracted so many Centrist Orthodox Jews to begin with. But if you ask some of the school’s original founders, they will tell you that they don’t recognize the place anymore.
Rambam needs new leadership if it is to survive. There are many strong leaders in the Rambam community. It is my hope that they can cut through the distractions and guide this very precious and needed school back to a path that has a real future to it.
I’ve seen Jewish schools disappear in my career or approach the brink of failure.
Usually, the symptoms are a poor business plan, an attitude of defensiveness, the toxicity of inter-group politics, a lack of transparency from its leadership and a failure to prepare itself for tough economic times.
I hope and pray this isn’t the case for Rambam.
It doesn’t have to be.

So over the past handful of days, as if we didn’t have enough going on, there’s been this recurring email that has come to our attention from several people.
The e-mailers write that gangs are now operating in the Pikesville, Owings Mills and Reisterstown areas. The email continues that these gangs are going through initiation and they are targeting Jewish women in these areas.
“The people doing this are African American and Latino men and women. They are dressed in solid colored polo shirts,” according to the rumor/
The alleged gang members allegedly bump you from behind while you are in your car at a traffic light. When you get out of your car, you are then supposed to be jumped.
The email concludes with “this is not a rumor. This is very serious and very real. This is not something that the media has publicized.”
YES it is a rumor. YES it is an urban legend. And according to local police sources, it’s all getting very tiring out there when real issues need to be taken care of.
According to Baltimore County Police Det. Ebbert, the gang rumor comes right off of the urban legend website Snopes.com. And if you go there, she is correct, you will find this urban legend.
“It’s gotten picked up by some community associations,” said the detective. “It’s an urban legend, based on an old hoax. I’m not trying to say don’t be aware of your surroundings and use common sense, but we have nothing to make this thing credible.”
So please, the Internet and your e-mail can be a very powerful influence in both positive and negative ways. But don’t cause panic with your e-mail. The police and government officials can be reached by calling them at 311 or finding an appropriate e-mail address. But don’t be responsible for the continuation of a rumor or urban legend.
We have great law enforcement agencies with people who really care about our communities and keeping them exactly how they are…safe.

On Friday my wife and I were headed out of town for a chance to unwind a little at the beach.
Before, however, we got to the Bay Bridge, the nature and tone of our trip would change.
That’s because my wife, Lisa, learned that a young woman she acts with in the Jewish Theatre Workshop, died suddenly. The woman, Jennifer Johnson, was a frequent player in the Workshop and was also connected to the Jewish community through her work at the Pikesville Trader Joe’s.
She was all of 22-years-old. And she died of a brain aneurism.
My wife was on the phone talking to other JTW colleagues. They were in a state of disbelief.
Jennifer was to appear in the upcoming JTW performance of “All In The Timing,” which is scheduled to be staged Thursday Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 23rd at 2 p.m. and Monday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m. All the performances will be held at the JCC Park Heights Straus Auditorium.
The show will, as they say, go on.
JTW is something that Jennifer Johnson really loved. There will be an opportunity to learn more about his remarkable young woman at all of the performances.
JTW will do its best to make sure that her memory lives on.
This play “All in the Timing,” is directed by Arnon Shorr, who many of us know as the son-in-law of Ner Tamid’s spiritual leader Rabbi Chaim Landau.
JTW’s website is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
May Jennifer’s memory be blessed.
And may you share in that blessing by supporting this theater that she so loved.

This is the best Italian food in town. We have tried many others and nothing can top Fazzini’s. Everything is fresh, homemade and delicious.

The pizza here was undercooked and really doughy.
entrees on other tables looked good though.

we like fazzini italian kitchen because of good wait staff and consistently good italian food. everything there is homemade; pasta, sauce,bread,pizza dough,etc.  large portions and reasonable prices and no ambiance!