Baltimore: 6 Jewish Facts

For centuries, Baltimore has boasted one of the United States’ most vibrant Jewish communities. Numbering nearly 100,000, Baltimore’s Jewish population is one of the country’s largest. The city is also unusual in having the most religiously observant Jewish population in the US. Here are six facts about this amazing city and it’s vibrant, distinctive Jewish community.
Nearly Killed for Being a Jew
The first Jew to openly profess his faith in the area was nearly killed for doing so – and escaped only after Britain’s Prime Minister personally intervened.
Jacob Lumbrozo was born in Portugal and made his way to what was then the Palatinate of Maryland in 1657, settling in the small town that would eventually become Baltimore. A physician by trade, Dr. Lumbrozo quickly made his mark: he worked as a doctor, held a trading commission allowing him to do business with Native Americans, bought property and even served on a jury. After about a decade living in his new home, Dr. Lumbrozo was reported to authorities and arrested under the Toleration Act: a law passed in 1649 that made it a crime for anyone living in Maryland not to profess allegiance to the Christian faith.
Dr. Lumbrozo was thrown into prison and faced execution. Luckily, ten days later the new Prime Minister of Britain, Oliver Cromwell, who was a brutal dictator at home but nonetheless championed the rights of Jews, intervened. Dr. Lumbrozo was freed and went on to continue working and living in the area until his death in 1665 or 1666.
Fighting the British in Baltimore
By the early 1800s several dozen Jewish families called Baltimore home, and they fought bravely for their city in its hour of need. During the War of 1812, 4,000 British troops landed at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, determined to march towards Baltimore and capture the city. Washington DC was already in the hands of the British, who’d burned the White House. It was imperative to the US that Baltimore not fall as well.