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Home
and Family
MEMOIRS
Delivering the Goods
Reminiscences of the Inception of Bais Yaakov of
Baltimore
by Rochel Leah Perlman
I remember very well the first time I walked past the future
home of the Bais Yaakov in Baltimore. The grounds included
acres of land, dozens of trees and lush lawns surrounding one
large building. Alongside it was a small building that had
served former owners as a stable for their horses and buggy
and which became a roomy garage. Of course, when we learned
that the city of Baltimore was to be blessed with a Bais
Yaakov school, we took a very active interest.
Rabbi Hirsh Diskind, now residing in Har Nof, was given the
position of principal of the first Hebrew girls school
outside of New York. Rabbi Diskind was a newcomer to
Baltimore and had a big job facing him before the school
could open its gates. Take the `little house' that shared the
spacious grounds of the main building. It was in a terrible
state of disrepair. My husband, Avrohom, o.b.m., and my
brother, Jacob Pheterson, undertook the job of renovation as
their self-appointed chessed project. They cleaned it,
put in a strong floor, new windows and a sturdy roof. This
was now ready to house the kindergarten.
When the main building was in shape, the school was ready to
operate. There was, however, the big problem of bussing the
students, since it was far from the religious neighborhoods.
Since my husband knew Baltimore like the palm of his hand, he
was very instrumental in setting up an efficient bus route to
transport all the students to and from school. Over the
years, he volunteered for numerous other projects, as Rabbi
Diskind disclosed when he came to pay a condolence visit
after my husband passed away.
My husband and brother continued with their "hands on" help
in the very literal sense. One of the big projects was
raising funds to keep the school going. Baltimore was filled
with precious Jews who devised many ways of getting money for
various good causes. There was one particularly wealthy Jew
who owned many acres of forest land. Before Succos each year,
he had his workers trim branches from the trees and let the
neighbors help themselves. When the school was opened, my
husband convinced him to cut a greater number and transport
them to the school grounds so that it could be sold for the
school.
Our Jewish community was very happy to purchase this fragrant
schach for their succos and thereby, help out
the school. The problem was transporting the branches to the
various addresses. On the Sunday before Succos, my husband
and brother got to work. The students of Yeshivas Chofetz
Chaim were also enlisted to help. Anyone with a truck used to
donate it for the day and the boys joined forces, loading up
the trucks from the Bais Yaakov school grounds and then
delivering the branches to the homes and synagogues which had
ordered them.
The deliveries took place in all kinds of weather, many times
in pouring rain, but this did not deter the dedicated
volunteers. The men and students worked all day and sometimes
into the night, coming home soaked to the bone, but happy to
have helped in this major community effort.
*
Rabbi Mordechai Perlman, son of Mrs. Rochel Leah, may her
years increase in good health and nachas, adds his own
reminiscing touch: "My father, z'l, would make one
condition on the delivery day. It was that my mother made
sure to have her delicious cabbage soup, hot and ready, for
whenever he returned home, however late it might be."
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