History of the Jews in Maryland

[4][5][6] Smaller Jewish communities exist in Gaithersburg, Germantown, White Oak, Olney, and Takoma Park.

[7][8] Columbia, Frederick, Annapolis, Cumberland, and Easton are also home to smaller but significant Jewish populations.

Maryland was one of the last states to have antisemitic laws prohibiting Jews from holding public office.

[15] In 1861, the Orthodox rabbi Bernard Illowy delivered a speech at the Lloyd Street Synagogue wherein he denounced the abolitionist movement and cited the Hebrew Bible to justify slavery.

Rabbi David Einhorn, a Reform rabbi who served as leader of Har Sinai Congregation, was a vocal advocate for abolitionism, denouncing supporters of slavery within the Jewish community and arguing that the Bible could not condone slavery because all humans are made in the Image of God.

[17] In 1955, Kappa Guild, a charity run largely by Jewish women began raising funds to support children's health and welfare, providing medical equipment and resources to pediatric hospitals and programs across Maryland.

In 1939, a Jewish-German refugee from Nazi Germany named Gustav Brunn[25] started the Baltimore Spice Company, which invented Old Bay seasoning.