Baltimore's History through It's Buildings: Part 1

Thursdays January 8, 15, 22, and 29

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Meg Fairfax

Get to know Baltimore stories through the diverse architecture, materials and character of its historical hospitals, schools, churches, homes and more.

Meg Fairfax Fielding is the Director of the History of Medicine at the 226-year-old Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland (MedChi). She also manages their collection of portraits and sculptures of physicians dating to the late 1700's and the rare book collection, with the oldest dating to 1567. She is a Fellow at the American Osler Society and has lectured there several times. In her spare time, Meg lectures on the historic architecture of her hometown Baltimore, and loves taking photos with her companion, Daisy-the Drone. She frequently attends country auctions, hunting up antique American quilts, and English china. Meg has just completed her second book entitled "Marcia Crocker Noyes: The Librarian Who Never Left", about the librarian who worked at MedChi for 50 years.

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Naomi's Footsteps

Mondays February 2, 9, and 23 and Friday February 13

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Rabbi Ofer Beit-Halachmi

The art of the pillar and queen of Israeli Folk, Naomi Shemer. We will focus on the use of the Bible and her songs.

Rumor says that Rabbi Ofer Beit-Halachmi is a descendent of King David. Although with no red hair or other proof, you can find his creative liturgy in various reform prayer books and his children are all named after the dynasty. Ofer has a graduate-degree in Talmud and Jewish Education. He served as Rabbi in Congregation "Shir-Chadash" outside of Jerusalem, Israel. Rabbi Ofer co-developed the "Aspaklaria" methodology of using the arts for Jewish education and community building. He curated numerous art exhibitions and exhibits in Israel and is a beloved teacher in congregations around the world. You can learn more about him and with him on his website: HebrewTrainer.com

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Baltimore's History Through it's Buildings: Part 2

Thursdays February 5,12,19 and 26

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Meg Fairfax

Get to know Baltimore stories through the diverse architecture, materials and character of its historical hospitals, schools, churches, homes and more.

Meg Fairfax Fielding is the Director of the History of Medicine at the 226-year-old Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland (MedChi). She also manages their collection of portraits and sculptures of physicians dating to the late 1700's and the rare book collection, with the oldest dating to 1567. She is a Fellow at the American Osler Society and has lectured there several times. In her spare time, Meg lectures on the historic architecture of her hometown Baltimore, and loves taking photos with her companion, Daisy-the Drone. She frequently attends country auctions, hunting up antique American quilts, and English china. Meg has just completed her second book entitled "Marcia Crocker Noyes: The Librarian Who Never Left", about the librarian who worked at MedChi for 50 years.

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Zionism As I Explained it to My Daughter

Mondays March 2, 9, 16, 23

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Rabbi Ofer Beit-Halachmi

Rethinking Zionism and other options of Jewish Identity for a new generation.

Rumor says that Rabbi Ofer Beit-Halachmi is a descendent of King David. Although with no red hair or other proof, you can find his creative liturgy in various reform prayer books and his children are all named after the dynasty. Ofer has a graduate-degree in Talmud and Jewish Education. He served as Rabbi in Congregation "Shir-Chadash" outside of Jerusalem, Israel. Rabbi Ofer co-developed the "Aspaklaria" methodology of using the arts for Jewish education and community building. He curated numerous art exhibitions and exhibits in Israel and is a beloved teacher in congregations around the world. You can learn more about him and with him on his website: HebrewTrainer.com

Register Here

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German Baltimore and the World Wars: From Anarchists and Nazis to Defenders of America

Thursdays March 5, 12, 19, 26

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Jennifer Liles

Examine the lives and history of Baltimore's German population, including how the world wars, anarchists and Nazi influences impacted their experiences

Jennifer is a local public historian. After growing up in Baltimore City, she realized that history was her calling. She researched topics related to Baltimore and its long history and now shares her knowledge with others through her teaching.

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Coming to America-Our Congregants' Journeys

Mondays April 6, 13, 20, 27

10:30 AM - 12 PM

So many of us take for granted the fact that we were born as American citizens and all that status affords us. But some of our fellow congregants at HSOSC were born elsewhere and had to go through significant trials when leaving the country in which they were born and in making their way to the United States of America. All four of the congregants who will speak to us faced antisemitism along their journey which shaped who they are today. The first week of this course we will hear from Regina Worsnop who came here from Poland. The second week we will hear from Wanda Grasu who came here from Romania. The third week will hear from Manuele Wasserman who came here from Egypt. The fourth and final week we will hear from Tom Fekete who came here from Hungary.

Regina Worsnop is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors and a native of Poland. She came to the United States in 1969 because of a strong anti-Sematic wave propagated by the Communist government in reaction to the six-day war in Israel. Despite the grim circumstances under which she departed Poland, in her new home in the U.S., Regina was able to eventually become a biochemist researcher and an executive in the biotech industry. Regina is fluent in Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish and English.

Wanda Grasu (nee Nochovici) was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1953 as an only child to two Holocaust survivors. Her parents were both chemical engineers and her grandparents took care of her. Wanda's love of math and science resulted in aspirations to become a structural engineer. She earned her degrees in that field and acquired a position in which she was very successful. Her first encounter with antisemitism came about as a result of never being promoted and told that a Jew could not expect to receive a promotion. She and her husband Stephan emigrated to the United States where Wanda found work in her field and Stefan's jobs continued to improve. Over time, they became part of the American dream by being able to own a home, belong to a synagogue and start a family, having their son and daughter. The American dream continued when they were able to put both their children through college, their daughter Beatrice to medical school and a Ph.D. program for their son Alex. Wanda enjoys the time she spends locally with her two grandchildren and whenever able, she helps out with her two grandchildren in Naples, Florida.

Manuele Wasserman was born in Egypt when it was still a British colony. In 1956, at the time of the Suez Canal crisis, her Sephardic Jewish family was expelled overnight and left without a home or a country. After stints in France and South Africa, at the age of eleven, she emigrated to the United States. In New York, she flourished going to college at Vassar and eventually earned a Ph.D. in European History at Columbia University. Marriage brought her to Baltimore where she raised a family and, until retirement, enjoyed a rewarding career as an investment advisor. Her husband's family is among the original founders of Temple Oheb Shalom.

Tom Fekete was born in Nazi occupied Budapest. After the failed anti-communist uprising, his family joined the 200,000 emigres in Austria and had a 10 month stay in a refugee camp. They arrived in the United States (Baltimore) in 1958. He graduated from Poly and then earned chemical engineering degrees from RPI and Johns Hopkins. Tom had a successful 40-year career in engineering with executive positions in technical fields, traveling across the U.S. and internationally. He spent 14 years at Hopkins at the institute for NanoBioTechnology and teaching. Since 2024 he has served as the President of the Pikesville Improvement Corporation working to revitalize Pikesville.

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Thank You for Being a Friend: TV Shows and the Philosophies Behind Their Episodes. Part 1

Friday April 10 and Thursdays April 16, 23 and 30

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Katessa Trafton

Link philosophical lessons on friendship, gender and humanity from Aristotle and Socrates to those found in episodes of "The Golden Girls," "MASH," "Good Times" and other classic TV Shows.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Tess has been working as a Family Consultant under the Maryland Autism Waiver for eleven years. She earned her AA degree from CCBC. Her BA is from University of Baltimore where she studied psychology, philosophy and human services. This is where her love for philosophy was born. After UB she went to Towson University where she earned her Post Bachelor and master's degrees in Autism Studies. Her goal is to earn her second master's or PhD in Philosophy. Tess's hobbies include giving back by dropping off food from the MD Food Pantry to nursing homes once a month, reading to dogs at the animal shelter, playing video games, collecting books and listening to philosophy lectures.

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Beginner's Conversational Yiddish

Wednesdays May 6, 13, 20, 27

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Sherri Bell

Did you ever wonder what your grandparents were saying to you in some foreign language when you were a youngster? As you have gotten older, have you become more interested in learning conversational Yiddish so that the language does not fall be the wayside, if not taught to future generations? During our everyday lives, we utter many Yiddish terms without even realizing that we are doing so. Words like schmooze, shlep, yenta, nosh, tuches, kvetch and mensh (just to name a few) come out of our mouths daily and we may not even realize when we do so, we are speaking Yiddish. In this course you will learn words and phrases that are fundamental to the Yiddish language from a woman in whose household, as a child, Yiddish was part of the fiber of her environment. In small groups and with partners, you will have many opportunities to practice what you are learning to then be able to apply it in your everyday lives.

Sherri is the youngest child of two Holocaust survivors who married and had two children in a DP (Displaced Persons) Camp in Germany. Sherri was born in the United States. Her parents did not speak fluent English and spoke Yiddish to their children and Polish to each other. At 13, Sherri encouraged her parents to take formal English lessons, and they eventually adopted English as their everyday language. Fast forward many years, Sherri has been finding Yiddish creeping back into her thoughts. She has begun blurting out more and more Yiddish over the past few years and absolutely loves the warm memories that this language evokes. Sherri looks forward to sharing with each and every one of you a vast array of Yiddish words and phrases that will equip you to come away from this course feeling adept at Beginner's Conversational Yiddish.

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Thank You for Being a Friend: TV Shows and The Philosophies Behid Their Episodes: Part 2

Thursday May 7, 14, 28 - Monday May 18

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Katessa Trafton

Link philosophical lessons on friendship, gender and humanity from Aristotle and Socrates to those found in episodes of "The Golden Girls," "MASH," "Good Times" and other classic TV Shows.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Tess has been working as a Family Consultant under the Maryland Autism Waiver for eleven years. She earned her AA degree from CCBC. Her BA is from University of Baltimore where she studied psychology, philosophy and human services. This is where her love for philosophy was born. After UB she went to Towson University where she earned her Post Bachelor and master's degrees in Autism Studies. Her goal is to earn her second master's or PhD in Philosophy. Tess's hobbies include giving back by dropping off food from the MD Food Pantry to nursing homes once a month, reading to dogs at the animal shelter, playing video games, collecting books and listening to philosophy lectures.

Register Here

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The Guitar, Its Music and How it Conquered the World

Mondays June 1, 8, 15, 22

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Jonathan Palevsky

The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of the guitar is Spain and there is indeed a centuries long tradition of classical guitar music and performers from the Iberian Peninsula. However, the guitar has a long tradition in our country and in fact it would be hard to find a country where this six-string chordophone hasn't made a substantial impression. The guitar is used in every day type of music conceivable from artsiest of art music to the folksiest of folk music with Jazz and Blues stuck somewhere in between. The guitar comes in a mind-bending variety of different shapes, colors and sizes including electric, acoustic, 7 string, 12 string and almost every other number of strings imaginable. Come explore the amazing music and performers of this instrument that has changed the world.

Show and Tell included.

Jonathan Palevsky is the program director at WMJC, bringing Baltimore classical music for our listening pleasure. He has been with the station in a variety of capacities since 1986. Originally from Montreal, Jonathan came to Baltimore in 1982 to study at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. His current off-air obsessions include cycling, skiing, playing guitar, and hosting Cinema Sundays at the Charles Theater. 

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The History of the Changing Roles of American Women

Mondays June 4, 11, 18, 25

10:30 AM - 12 PM

Jennifer Liles

Explore how American women's roles have changed from early settlers to today, covering gender norms, suffrage, work, health care and the rise of feminism. Discuss how historical factors influenced the development of the women's movement.

Jennifer is a local public historian. After growing up in Baltimore City, she realized that history was her calling. She researched topics related to Baltimore and its long history and now shares her knowledge with others through her teaching.

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