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An update on the community solar program, and why the remaining spots won't lastIf you've opened a BGE bill lately, you already know what this article is about.Rates have gone one direction for years. BGE's electric delivery rates have risen 33 percent since 2020, according to the Maryland Office of People's Counsel. This past January brought another increase. February brought another. Supply rates rose again in March. And in July, BGE filed a request with the Maryland Public Service Commission for $156 million more — which, if approved, would add roughly $8 a month to the average customer's bill. A decision is expected in January 2027.To put the strain in perspective: as of March, roughly 290,000 BGE customers were behind on their payments.So w...
BALTIMORE, Oct. 15, 2026 — Cheder Chabad of Baltimore has closed on the purchase of a new campus at 5800 Smith Avenue and 1701 Regent Road in Mount Washington, a major step for a school that has grown every year and is now at capacity in its Park Heights Avenue building.
Founded in 2007 by Rabbi Elchonon Lisbon, Cheder Chabad of Baltimore is an affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch of Maryland, under the auspices of Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan. The school began with 12 preschool children and today serves over 430 students in its boys school, girls school and preschool.
Demand for a Cheder Chabad education has grown faster than the school's space can keep up. The new 3.5-acre campus includes a school building with 11 classrooms, a gymnasium, offices and tutoring spaces; a separate gathering...
Baltimore, MD - October 15, 2026 - STAR-K Certification is relocating to 104 Church Lane, Suite 300, effective Monday, October 26.
The Slade Avenue location will be vacated on Wednesday, October 21.
During our transition, we will be available only by phone or email: 410-484-4110 and star-k@star-k.org. Our phone number/kosher hotline and email address are staying the same.
Shatnez checking will not be available the week of October 19, and the public is asked to not drop off any more shatnez at our Slade Avenue location. Shatnez checking will resume at our new Church Lane location the following week, starting on October 26, with pick up resuming on Thursday after 3 p.m. as before.
Any shatnez dropped off at our Slade location should be picked up no later than Tuesday, Octob...
Baltimore, MD – October 15, 2026 - BJL regrets to inform the community of the petira of Mrs. Judy (Dina Tova) Banker, a”h, mother of Dr. Jeffrey (Chanan) Banker and Marc Banker.
The levaya will take place today, Thursday, October 15, at 2:00 PM, at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, NY.
Shiva Information
Shiva will be observed at the Banker home:
3305 Labyrinth RoadBaltimore, MD 21215
Thursday, October 15Maariv: 9:30 PM
Friday, October 16Shacharis: 7:30 AMMincha: 1:45 PM
Motzei Shabbos, October 17Maariv: 7:25 PMVisiting hours until 9:30 PM
Sunday, October 18 – Tuesday, October 20Shacharis: 7:30 AMMincha/Maariv: 6:05 PM
Wednesday, October 21Shacharis: 7:30 AMShiva concludes following Shacharis.
The family kindly requests no visitors between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM.
V...
A heartbreaking tragedy unfolded Wednesday in Beitar Illit, where a 10-year-old boy lost his life after a fire in a dumpster near a residential building in Beitar Illit reportedly triggered an explosion, leaving the child with critical injuries and burns.
Emergency responders from ZAKA and Magen David Adom found the boy unconscious, not breathing and without a pulse. Paramedics immediately began life-saving treatment, including chest compressions, artificial ventilation, medication and efforts to stop bleeding. He was rushed to Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem in critical condition as resuscitation efforts continued, but he was later pronounced dead.
The cause of the incident remains unclear. Initial suspicions are that children lit garbage on f...
To the Baltimore Community:We hope this finds you well having had an uplifting Yom Tov season.As you know, the Trump Administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act that passed in July 2025 included the historic and exciting Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC) Program. To briefly refresh you, the FSTC program has two components to it. First, taxpayers can receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit off their federal taxes for donations to scholarship-granting organizations (“SGOs”). Second, the SGOs use the money gathered through these donations to provide scholarships for K-12 school children. After the July 2025 passage of the OBBB Act, two items remained before this program could proceed: one, the development of the program’s rules and regulations by the IRS/Trea...
Unfinished Business
Liora Ben Tzur of Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha gave birth to her third daughter just 30 hours before the events of October 7, 2023. Her mother, , came from her home in Kiryat Arba to the kibbutz to help Liora’s husband with the children. On the morning of Simchat Torah, while Liora was still in the maternity ward, her mother was murdered as she walked along the paths of the kibbutz, carrying candy for the children.
This year, during Sukkot, as her mother’s yahrtzeit approached, Liora remembered that her mother’s bag must still be somewhere in her house. “It was the backpack she carried everywhere,” she recalled. Sure enough, she found it and began rummaging through it.
“I don’t know what I was looking for. Maybe a little letter s...
A Baltimore judge has dismissed three second-degree murder charges against James Edwin Barnett, 58, who is accused of setting the January 2022 fire in a vacant South Stricker Street rowhome that killed three Baltimore City firefighters and seriously injured a fourth. Barnett remains on trial on charges related to the blaze, which devastated the Baltimore firefighting community.
The fire broke out early on January 24, 2022, at 205 South Stricker Street in the Mount Clare neighborhood. Firefighters responded after a 911 call reported a fire in the vacant three-story rowhome, along with reports of people trapped inside. As crews entered the burning building, the structure partially collapsed, trapping firefighters beneath the debris. Lt. Paul Butrim, Lt. Kelsey Sadler and EMT/firefighter Ken...
BeMore Giving, a charitable initiative supporting institutions and organizations throughout the Greater Baltimore Jewish community, has reached a significant milestone: $400,000 in total giving.
BeMore Giving has built its model around a simple idea: when individuals make small, consistent contributions to local organizations, those gifts can create a powerful collective impact. The organization encourages community members to give tzedakah on a daily basis, helping both strengthen local institutions and cultivate a lasting habit of generosity.
The $400,000 milestone reflects the combined impact of countless individual gifts. Rather than depending primarily on large, occasional donations, BeMore Giving has created a steady stream of support fueled by everyday acts of giving.
...
Baltimore, MD – October 14, 2026 - Excitement is growing across Baltimore’s Jewish community as Miriam’s Library prepares to welcome children to its first after-school classes at its new Pikesville home.
Registration is now open for the inaugural six-week session, beginning Sunday, October 25. Geared primarily toward fourth- and fifth-graders, the program is built around hands-on learning, giving children the chance to explore practical skills, discover new interests and express their creativity.
The first lineup includes 3D Printing & Design, Guitar Fundamentals, Mosaic Art, Screen Printing, Baking & Decorating, and Hairstyling & Braiding. Rather than a conventional homework-focused after-school setting, students will have opportunities to create, expe...
Baltimore, MD – October 13, 2026 - BJL regrets to inform the community of the petira of Mrs. Debra Hirsch a"h, mother of Rabbi Moshe Hirsch.
Rabbi Hirsch is sitting shiva at 110 Girton Blvd. Winnepeg, MB, R3P-0A5, Canada through Wednesday. He can be reached at (204) 793-2776 while in Canada.
Rabbi Hirsch will return to Baltimore and sit Shiva at 411 Yeshiva Lane on Thursday.
Rabbi Hirsch will end shiva on Friday at 409 Yeshiva Lane, Apt 1D.
MinyanimShacharis: 7:15amMincha: 2:30pmMincha (Friday): 1:22pmMaariv: 8:45pm
בלע המות לנצח
Elazar Yair Wilensky, a 14-year-old ninth-grade student at ORT Ma’alot Yeshiva High School and the youngest of five siblings, was identified as the student killed Monday when unexploded Hezbollah ordnance detonated during the school’s annual hiking trip in the Ramim Ridge area of the Upper Galilee, near Israel’s border with Lebanon. He leaves behind his parents, three sisters and a brother. The explosion also injured 24 others. Preliminary findings indicated that a student had picked up unexploded Hezbollah ordnance and placed it in a bag before it detonated. The circumstances remain under investigation.
His family remembered him as “a boy who loved life. Smart and intelligent, full of joy, a good and beloved friend, whose entire future was still ahead of him.&rdqu...
President Donald Trump said Monday that the killing of senior Iranian leaders may have complicated efforts to negotiate with Tehran, acknowledging that the United States is uncertain about who is now making decisions within Iran’s leadership.
“We might have gone too far with the leaders because we don’t know who the hell we’re dealing with anymore,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio. He also suggested that potential candidates were reluctant to take over Iran’s leadership, saying, “Nobody wants to be the president of Iran.”
Despite the challenges, Trump maintained that US military operations had severely weakened Iran’s armed forces and reiterated that Tehran would not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. ...
Baltimore, MD – October 13, 2026 – (BJL) Slade Avenue is closed to traffic at Park Heights Avenue due to a car accident.Drivers are advised to avoid the intersection and use alternate routes.
