The JCC of Greater Baltimore is preparing to host its seventh annual J Live event at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts on March 27, bringing former Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg to perform and presenting Baltimore icon Myrna Cardin with the Bezalel Leadership Award for her decades of work in the Baltimore Jewish community.
The J Live event is a celebration of the impact the JCC has had on the local community over the past year and is a way to fundraise to provide financial assistance to individuals and families to allow them to participate in JCC programs.
The event is open to the public and will feature a pre-show dinner, dessert reception and the presentation of the Bezalel award to Myrna Cardin, a native Baltimorean with years of leadership across multiple local Jewish organizations and the wife of Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin.
“We are so excited to honor Myrna at this year’s J Live at the Gordon for her long-time commitment to the JCC, Associated system, and Jewish Life in our community,” Barak Hermann, CEO of the JCC of Greater Baltimore, said in a press release.
The Bezalel award was created in 2023 and honors those who “have inspired and led transformative change in our community,” according to the JCC website.
Myrna Cardin has a history of that type of service work, having been on the founding committee of the JCC Associates, a volunteer branch of the JCC; serving as the JCC board chair from 1993 to 1995; serving on the steering committee of the first Maccabi games in Baltimore; co-chairing the Housing Committee; and serving as a past president for the Baltimore Jewish Council, among many other leadership roles.
“I don’t know that I ever planned to do what I did. I feel so fortunate because I started doing this when I was young, and I’m certainly not young anymore, but I’ve been able to continue being in the community and working with and for the community, and it’s such a privilege,” Myrna Cardin said.
Myrna Cardin said she’s always loved being active in the community and had the mindset of always looking for one more way to involve new people.
“It comes as no surprise to you that I’m very interested in what’s going on in the world, and that’s part of my life, being married to Ben. And the idea that we as a Jewish community could advocate for the best interests of the Jewish community is so important. [The idea] that we always have a voice. And here was the Baltimore Jewish Council to do that right now,” Myrna Cardin said.
And now Myrna Cardin has taken up a new pursuit that’s brough her joy, joining the Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation about three years ago, which gives grants to nonprofits that benefit young girls and women in Baltimore.
She said the foundation is a great way to stay connected to what’s going on in the community and lift up those in need.
Giving back is important to Myrna Cardin. She said the city has been good to her and Ben, and, “We’d like to be good to it now.”
The event will also feature a concert by Weinberg and his four-piece band, who will be performing his Jukebox Tour of classic rock songs.
Weinberg is an experienced drummer, spending 43 years touring with Bruce Springsteen and 17 years as band leader for Conan O’Brien’s late night show.
The performance and fundraising it helps generate will be crucial to the JCC in providing the $330,000 in assistance to over 700 families it distributes annually.
“Max Weinberg and his band performing their Jukebox Tour will have people dancing in their seats! I am thrilled that J Live can celebrate the JCC’s impact in the community while also raising vital funds for financial assistance — so no one is turned away because of an inability to pay,” Hermann said in a press release.
Myrna Cardin was also excited to be a part of this event beyond receiving the award, as it’s a chance to uplift Weinberg, a drummer she said she’s heard great things about, and give people a chance to have fun and do good for the Baltimore community.
“This event, forget my getting the award, but I think this event is typical of having a chance to celebrate with a drummer who’s Jewish, who’s in a fabulous band, and he is now putting together his own show. And I’m part of it but I’m not the main point, and that’s good. I hope people come and enjoy themselves, and walk out smiling when they’re finished,” Myrna Cardin said.
