A bris is a ritual circumcision of an 8-day old Jewish boy. It is part of God’s covenant with Abraham. When the gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh this morning, a bris or a baby-naming ceremony was taking place. Earlier today, a friend sent me an article headlined Study: Online attacks on …more >

“You had offered to help with getting a state agency to take action on its problem property in our community. This seems like a good time to get that started if you can.” That’s the message I received from a neighborhood president this week. I responded right away. Not with an email to the agency, …more >

From kindergarten through 12th grade, I used the Pratt Library branch at Park Heights and Garrison. It closed more than 20 years ago. In Annapolis next year, I’ll be working with Mayor Pugh and my 40th and 41st District colleagues to secure state funding to help build a new branch – one block away at …more >

My first bond bill, in 1983, was for the Jewish Heritage Center. I was not the lead sponsor. The chair of the Baltimore City delegation was. He had more influence than a freshman member. As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, I sat next to Delegate Bobby Neall. I began …more >

It’s a Baltimore landmark. But it’s seen better days. People don’t go there like they used to. There are public safety concerns. It needs to adapt to the 21st Century. I’m talking, of course, about the Lexington Market. The City announced this week that the market’s renovation will be overseen by the developer of the …more >

Earlier this week, the Baltimore Sun ran an op-ed about college dating experiences. I wrote this response. Dear Editors: “I was about to meet Amherst College preppies,” Carolyn Buck writes of her first party there. (“Undermining our new empowerment,” September 25) I was an Amherst student. I graduated in June 1972. Ms. Buck entered Mt. …more >

“I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.” The subject is public education. The speaker is Abraham Lincoln, campaigning for the Illinois Legislature. The source is Leadership in Turbulent Times, a profile of Presidents Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon …more >

The Jewish High Holidays are a time for reflection. I read about a sermon that prompted a member of the congregation to do the right and courageous thing. That prompted me to write this letter to the editor of the Jewish Times. Dear Editors: How does a rabbi address the compelling political issues of the …more >

Is Judge Brett Kavanaugh qualified to serve on the Supreme Court? That’s the question Republican Senators want the public to focus on. What impact would Kavanaugh have on a woman’s reproductive health and President Trump’s future if he became the fifth conservative vote on the court? That’s how Democrats want to frame the debate. Closer …more >

“And now the ideas and the ideals which he so nobly represented must and will be translated into effective action.” Those words could have been spoken by a eulogist for Senator John McCain. They were not. They come from President Lyndon Johnson’s first address to the Congress – on November 27, 1963. We could be …more >