The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington held its annual Lox & Legislators event at Beth Sholom Congregation in North Potomac on the morning of Dec. 18, bringing over 50 Maryland legislators at the federal, state and local levels to meet with and speak to the Maryland Jewish community before the upcoming legislative session in 2025.
Around 300 people attended the event, which featured a heavy focus on Israel and antisemitism and included speeches from Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, Sen.-elect Angela Alsobrooks and several local elected officials.
“[The breakfast is] an opportunity for the legislators at the state, county and federal level to mingle with us in the Jewish community. And anyone can come to this event, so it can be people from all walks of life with all sorts of different perspectives in our diverse Jewish community,” said Deborah Miller, JCRC’s director of Maryland government and community relations.
She added that the same is true in reverse, where everyday people have unique access to these legislators to get to know them better and learn about their policy positions.
This year’s event held many similarities to the 2023 breakfast, being the second time the event was held since the Oct. 7 attacks and shifting the focus of the Jewish community towards Israel and the wave of antisemitism in communities across the U.S.
That focus was immediately apparent as JCRC brought Aviva Siegel, a former hostage whose husband Keith Siegel is still in captivity, and a woman whose sister was taken, to speak before any legislator.
Deborah Miller said they were working to keep the hostages front and center on people’s minds.
Cardin gave the audience an update from Congress on the hostage negotiations and said that an agreement had been negotiated and signed off on by the U.S. and Israel and that it is now waiting on Hamas, which has “supposedly signed off on it.”
Cardin also spoke about some news important to Baltimore residents, saying that a bill would be passed by midnight on Dec. 20 that included full funding for the Francis Scott Key Bridge repairs from the federal government and $100 billion in disaster relief, $10 billion of which would be in the transportation budget to aid issues like the Key Bridge.
As Cardin leaves office, he offered a farewell to the community he worked for over his 58 years of service and shouted out several incoming legislators, including Sarah Elfreth, who was just elected to serve Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District.
Cardin was followed by Alsobrooks, who spoke about her support for Israel and the work she will do for the Jewish community as she takes on her new role in the Senate.
Alsobrooks said she hopes to continue meeting with community members and especially with hostage families as she works to combat antisemitism and bring hostages home.
“I know who I’m representing, why I’m representing you. I’ve had the honor of spending the last 18 months in your living rooms, having these breakfasts with you, and I want you to know very clearly that I understand the challenge … that I am a friend to Israel, that I believe that Israel has the right to defend itself, that Israel also should have the means to support itself,” Alsobrooks said.
Alsobrooks added that antisemitism in schools and on college campuses is an issue that she and others will be focusing on, trying to create an environment where Jewish students feel safe and secure.
Aruna Miller followed Alsobrooks and said that community partners like the ones in the Jewish community at the breakfast were instrumental in allowing her and Gov. Wes Moore to accomplish many policy objectives this year.
“This year, we’ve made strides in funding community safety initiatives, expanding access to mental health services and strengthening paid crime prevention laws. We created the first Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention to address violence through public health events within the Department of Health, and my number one priority is to create economic opportunity and build a state where no one is left behind,” Aruna Miller said.
After the event, Deborah Miller said that hearing from the speakers at the event gives people a greater understanding of who JCRC is and what it does for the community. She added that Jewish connection and education have been critical topics in recent months since Oct. 7 and events like the breakfast help give people some education on Judaism and the war.
“There’s definitely more interest in the work that we do, unfortunately, because of what happened in Israel. But I’m seeing that all the time people are really keen on learning more about what it means to be Jewish. And I think that helps the JCRC in the work that it does,” Deborah Miller said.
