Playtime in the City

July 31, 2017 Simone Ellin, Associate Editor

Art teacher Temi Kiwala, with her students, Matan Gimburg (left) and Quinn Haust (right). (Photo by Evan Cohen)

The Downtown Baltimore JCC brings a sense of Jewish community to Federal Hill.

Situated in an unobtrusive, three-story office building on 1118 Light St. in Federal Hill, the Downtown Baltimore Jewish Community Center bears no resemblance to the sprawling campus of the Owings Mills JCC or the imposing brick structure that houses the Park Heights JCC.

But for 100 to 150 families, the cheerful, 2,000-square-foot space — which offers drop-in playtime, “Baby & Me,” infant massage, art and music classes and Jewish holiday programming — plays a vital role in bringing a sense of Jewish community to their lives.

Open since 2013, the DBJCC was a response to the 2010 Baltimore Jewish Community Study commissioned by The Associated showing that many young Jewish families were choosing to live downtown.

Before the DBJCC was based at its present location, “we were a traveling show,” says Ellie Brown, the DBJCC’s program manager. “We would pop up in different places like churches, libraries, at the Jewish Museum [of Maryland].”

Eventually, the popularity of the DBJCC’s “Baby & Me” and “Hands on Holiday” traveling programs confirmed the need for a permanent site.

Rachel Cohen, who lives a block from the DBJCC, participated in a variety of classes and activities at the center, first with her son, Jacob, and later with her daughter, Eden.

“We go to play, we go to Havdalah, we go to meet friends,” says Cohen. “It’s so special and I hope, hope, hope it stays around.”

Stacey Garland counts Cohen among the close friends she has made at the DBJCC after she and her husband, Sean, moved to Baltimore from New York City with their then-4-month-old son Jake. Garland joined a group for new moms at the DBJCC and then enrolled Jake in other classes there.

“I joined in the hopes of meeting people, and I was lucky enough to meet a lot of people I’m still close to,” says Garland. “It’s a truly wonderful place. I don’t know what I would have done without it.”

Just 50 percent of the families who utilize the DBJCC identify as Jewish, says Brown.

“What I’m most proud of is how our program reflects the diversity of the city,” she says. “The families at DBJCC who aren’t Jewish appreciate the cultural enrichment their children get from our programs. The Jewish parents who come, get in touch with their own Jewish upbringings.

“Young Jewish families aren’t necessarily joining synagogues or living close to the [uptown] JCCs. They may not want the Jewish institutions of their parents, but they do want Jewish connection,” says Brown. “The DBJCC keeps them connected to Judaism.”

For information about the DBJCC, visit jcc.org.