Nowadays, you can locate and purchase virtually any type of seforim, Jewish-themed reading materials or Judaica tchotchke in seconds with the mere pressing of a keyboard button.
But there was a time when getting a new kippah, dreidel or siddur meant actually hopping in a car and driving over to the local Jewish bookstore and gift shop, a time-honored tradition that has deep roots in Baltimore.
In recent years, with the closings of the Central Hebrew and Pern’s Hebrew bookstores in Pikesville, it marked an end to their long, competitive history. At the same locations for almost a half-century, Central Hebrew and Pern’s were holdovers from the days before the modern Judaica corporate outlets – particularly those online — became dominant.
The old Hebrew bookstores catered to a mostly Orthodox clientele, selling everything from religious items such as yarmulkes, tallesim, tefillin, kiddush cups, ketubot and mezuzahs to various sets of Talmuds, Passover Haggadot and a vast array of books analyzing Jewish history, kashrut guidelines and halachic opinions.
If you needed a lulav and etrog for your sukkah, Hebrew bookstores were the place to find them. If you needed a new chanukiah or yahrzeit candles, that’s where you went as well. Even Yiddish newspapers and magazines from the Big Apple could be found there.
Back in East Baltimore at the end of the 19th century, Rev. Berman’s Hebrew Books, located at 1027 East Baltimore St., was most likely the first of these kind of businesses to pop up in the area. Opening in 1890, it was located next door to the Workmen’s Circle Labor Lyceum and survived until 1957.
Louis Friedman’s Hebrew Books opened in 1896 on East Pratt and Exeter streets. At that time, East Baltimore was teeming with observant Jews arriving from Eastern Europe.
In 1952, Friedman’s relocated to lower Park Heights Avenue, where many of its customers had moved. The store closed in 1964, but others followed.
Sopher Hebrew Books was located at 100 North High St. in 1902. A store was opened on East Lombard Street by someone named I. Rubenstein in the heart of the Jewish shopping area between 1924 and 1942, with another location on East Baltimore Street opening in 1934.
Ehrlich’s Hebrew Books, which opened on Exeter Street in 1924, moved to 1010 East Baltimore St. in 1934. It was renamed Central Hebrew Books five years later and moved to lower Park Heights in 1948.
As Jews moved further northwest and into the suburbs, Central Hebrew relocated to the Pimlico area in 1960, where it remained until settling at 220 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville in 1972.
David Kurland Hebrew Books at 3447 Park Heights Ave. near Park Circle opened in 1929, near the old Shaarei Zion Synagogue.
A store ran by I. Weinberg opened on West North Avenue near Linden Avenue in 1936, and Star Hebrew Books on South Exeter Street opened in 1946 for the Jews still remaining in old East Baltimore.
In 1937, Rev. Klawansky’s Hebrew Books opened on West North Avenue in West Baltimore’s Easterwood neighborhood and remained there for nine years before moving to lower Park Heights. It closed in 1964. Royal Books & Gifts took over Rev. Klawansky’s old North Avenue location, until it closed in 1954.
The I. Kodimah store was located at 4837 Park Heights Ave. from 1952 to 1961.
Pern’s opened in a row house on Park Heights Avenue in the Pimlico area in 1959. It moved across the street to a store five years later and remained there until 1973, when it moved to the Colonial Village Shopping Center in Pikesville, where it closed a few years ago.
Some locals also remember Jacob’s Ladder Books and Gifts, which opened in 1995 in Pikesville and operated for several years.
A couple of Judaica and Hebrew bookstores stores still remain in the area, such as Shabsi’s Judaica Center — which opened in 1996 in the Fallstaff Shopping Center — and the Sephorim Nook, at 516 Reisterstown Road since 2012.
Online shopping is fine and easy, but nothing will ever replace the raw experience of stepping into a great Hebrew bookstore and Judaica shop.
Steve Liebowitz is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and author of “Steel Pier, Atlantic City: Showplace of the Nation” (Down the Shore Publishing) and “Steel Pier” (Arcadia Publishing).
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