When Lindsay Feldman looked around at Jewish Baltimore, she saw a lot of social and programming options for older adults. She also knew of plenty of happenings geared at young professionals. There are, of course, plenty of events for families and younger kids.

But what about millennials? Or, as she puts it, “elder millennials.”

“[We] were definitely feeling out of place sometimes in those young adult settings,” Feldman said. “Particularly after Oct. 7, it felt like there were not a lot of spaces for people my age to gather together [amid] a political climate where antisemitism was very much in the subtext, and it felt like there just wasn’t enough time and space to be around other Jews.”

So Feldman founded the Shalom Social Club, a group that attacks that gap head-on. Shalom Social Club offers a number of events — with a handful planned for July already — that give Jewish adults of all backgrounds a chance to connect and hang out. While it’s geared largely toward that aforementioned age group, Shalom Social Club welcomes attendees in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

Feldman said the design of Shalom Social Club is “pluralistic,” with events generally not being held on Shabbat to accommodate those who are more observant. They mostly stick to activities outside of religious spaces. There is a group that meets to go to the pool after Saturday services in the summer, as well as a regular crew and others who pop in for board game nights. Shalom Social Club offers happy hour every month at a different location, pickleball and more.

Much of Feldman’s desire to create Jewish community came from her upbringing. She was raised primarily in Waldorf, Maryland, although she also spent time in Southern California.

While Feldman, who didn’t have much, if any, Jewish education growing up, said she “flourishes” when she is a part of multiple communities, she found during her time in Baltimore as a college student that she really enjoys time spent among other Jews.

“Having a space where I know that I’m fully welcome as my complex Jewish self is really wonderful,” she said.

Feldman has also spent time working as a community connector with the Jewish Connection Network, and she said that experience helped remind her that Jewish life can take many different forms.

“They’re sort of expansive [in their] acceptance of a wide variety of Judaism and really targeting intermarried couples, targeting less engaged people, and recognizing that those are important Jews too, not just people who are going to go to every JCC event and send their kids to Jewish day school. I think that there are so many different ways to engage in the Jewish community in Baltimore, that for me, I really, I appreciate those things,” Feldman said.

Feldman, a member of Beth Am, lives in Frankford in Northeast Baltimore. She lives there because it’s close to where she teaches for Baltimore City Public Schools. While it might not be Pikesville or Owings Mills, Feldman has a positive outlook on what makes somewhere Jewish.

“I think that any part of the city can be a Jewish part of the city if you do Jewish things in it,” she said.

Feldman has hosted Shabbat dinners, Passover Seders and more at her home in Frankford.
“Not just Shalom Social Club members, but also extended members of my own community. That means neighbors, non-Jewish neighbors, good family friends who are non-Jewish, and I have always found those to be enriching experiences,” she said.

Feldman sees a bright future for herself in Baltimore, and for Shalom Social Club. This summer, she and other team members are focused on strategic planning and canvassing those who attend their events to learn more about what they might want moving forward.

While Shalom Social Club is Feldman’s Jewish communal focus right now, she is more intent on creating connections than she is furthering the future of the organization itself. Even if it were to cease to exist, it has made a positive impact, and that’s enough for Feldman.

“If we were to not have any capacity this fall, I would still feel like what we have done is really important. There are people that know each other that wouldn’t have known each other. There are connections in the community. There are people who know more about how to host, how to have people over, how to make any activity, sort of a group Jewish activity, and that stuff is not going to go away now that more and more people have had this experience,” she said.

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com