Stories Tell the Tale of a Community

Every day while driving into work, I pass by a little beige corner rowhouse on Falls Road in Hampden that houses Stefan’s Leather & Shoe Repair. My mind often travels back several years ago to an interview I conducted with the store’s owner, Stefan Gegala.

Stefan was a Polish Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1983. He was a leather expert back in the old country, and when he came here he worked as a cobbler at a shop in the Reisterstown Road Plaza.

With his silver beard, stout build and friendly, robust personality, Stefan was like a big teddy bear. It was pretty much impossible not to love the guy.

But he was more than that. I remember him proudly showing me around his shop. “You see,” he said in his thick accent, pointing a polish-stained finger at his work area, “this is where we do everything and perform surgery on shoes.”

Stefan looked at cobbling as an art form, of which he was one of the last true practitioners.

But he was also the embodiment of the American Dream. Like our grandparents and great-grandparents, he came to this country with little and made a good life for himself and his family. He sent his two sons to college and lived comfortably in suburban Baltimore.

Most importantly, he loved what he did for a living and his customers, and he loved life.

About a year ago, I dropped by Stefan’s shop for shoe repair and was honored to see my old profile on him taped to his cash register for customers to see.

But when I asked a young lady at the counter if I could say hello to Stefan, she turned ashen and called over a young man. The man, Stefan’s son, informed me that, unfortunately, Stefan had passed away a couple of years earlier.

Stefan’s story is one of many that form the narrative arc of this Jewish community. There are thousands and thousands of stories in our midst that touch the heart, soul and mind, and they remind us of how powerful that concept of community can be.

For the past couple of years, I’ve enjoyed the honor of working at publications covering the military installations at Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Meade, and made many friends there.

As someone who never served in uniform (but is a proud son of a World War II veteran), it was absolutely fascinating to watch up-close how the military operates.

But when people would ask what it was like to write about a military post after covering the Jewish community here for a long time, I told them there wasn’t really much of a difference.

After a while, you get to know the individuals who are most active and invested, and you see that there are many shared values: a commitment to tradition, self-improvement and community; a strong sense of purpose and identity; a code of ethics and beliefs; and a culture of camaraderie and decency.

They have tanks, we’ve got the Torah. They have bugles, we’ve got blintzes.

JMORE has a mission, too: to provide coverage of this community with a sense of respect, fairness, quality and honor.

In these pages and on our website, you will see the life and times of this community come alive. You will see your family members, friends and neighbors. You will be informed, educated and entertained. That’s just what a good community media company does.

JMORE will be your conduit to knowing what’s going on in Jewish Baltimore and its surrounding areas. In addition, JMORE will reach out to the younger generations, to bring the love of Jewish life, community and culture to a new group of Jews who view the world from a different lens.

That is our mandate, as a publication and as a community.

JMORE is here to be part of that vision and process.

Like my old friend Stefan, we’re building something special and creating a legacy.

Thank you for taking this journey with us and for what you do to help this community grow and flourish.

L’Shana tova tikatevu to you and your family.

Warmly,
Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief