As far as we know, we are the first pair of rabbis to rove Hearford County, MD. This means that we had absolutely no contacts to start with. While there is a small Reform congregation, most of the Jewish folks we met did not seem to have much to do with it. So where do we find people?
A policeman in the gas station in Havre De Grace in told us about his friend named Cal who is Jewish. We eventually found Cal. We had a nice schmooze, he told us all about his health problems and we offered some encouragement and the opportunity to recite a prayer.
We've been spending a lot of time in flea markets lately. Coming from Brooklyn, they are quite exotic. We wanted to see if there were any fleas, and were pleasantly surprised to discover that there were none. There were, however, many other interesting things, especially relevant to us—Jews.
In the Bel Air flea market, most of the stalls sell what they call OPJ (other people's junk). Statuettes, air conditioners, guns, fishing tackle, even the kitchen sink is for sale there.
One of the vendors, Arcady, is a Russian immigrant who sells used pipes and other things which I was unable to identify. We were, however, able to identify him as a Jew based on his Russian accent and broad smile. He was overjoyed to see us and gladly put on tefillin for the first time.
Oh, and did we mention that we picked up a Randy Johnson rookie card for cheap?
