4 Jewish Mothers I Met in Baltimore

4 Jewish Mothers I Met in Baltimore

As you probably know, I am visiting my parents in Baltimore this week.

On Monday, my mom and I went to a UPS drop-off place, when a woman in her thirties wearing a shoulder-length wig gave me a big smile.

“Oh, good to see you in Baltimore!”
“Thanks! Remind me how I know you…?”
She laughed, “You don’t know me, but I know all about you, Chana Jenny! I love JewishMOM!”

And then this morning, picking out sale nectarines at the Seven Mile Market, it happened again. “You look just like that woman from JewishMOM” another 30-something mom in a black tichel said.

“I am that woman from JewishMOM…” I confessed, and she responded to my confession with one of her own: she was way behind on watching my peptalks, but is hoping to catch up.

Those were nice JewishMOM encounters. Sweet and also important reminders that when I sit at my computer in Jerusalem I am touching the lives of real-life JewishMOMs all over the world.

But there were two other special JewishMOMs I met today in Baltimore I wanted to tell you about too.

Today I went on a long walk near my parents’ house in Mt. Washington, a neighborhood with a nearly non-existent Orthodox population, but which is just a few blocks over from the frum area.

I was walking up the hill towards my old elementary school along a remote back road, when a minivan drove up behind me and slowed to a halt. A young grandmother in a sheitl with a huge smile asked, “You need a ride somewhere?”

I turned her down, telling her I “davka” wanted to walk.

But then about 10 minutes later, the heavens opened up, and it started raining so hard that it was like I was walking through a swimming pool…

And yet again, a minivan came up behind me and opened the window. And there was another 40-something JewishMOM in a sheitl, maybe on her way home from work? “Please, let me give you a ride…”

I told her, “It’s OK, I live right near here…” but as I walked through the downpour, I realized that 5 minutes in pouring rain feels MUCH longer than 5 minutes on a clear day.

But I smiled a huge smile despite the torrential downpour, thinking of the two moms I’d met in Baltimore who knew me, and the two moms I’d met in Baltimore who didn’t know me, but who love and care for me anyway…

Just because I’m a JewishMOM too.

7 comments

  1. 🙂

  2. Chana Jenny, you are much-loved everywhere! I wish I could see you face to face someday. Maybe you’ll visit my town some time.

  3. Have you ever thought of going on a speaking tour? You’d be very welcome in London!

  4. Welcome to Baltimore!

  5. just wondering why you wouldn’t accept the rides from clearly frum jewish women? it was a downpour after all…

    • JewishMom

      because I wasn’t thinking and thought I was almost home, i didn’t realize how far 5 minutes feels in that kind of downpour. i should have accepted her offer

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