Discover some of Beth Am's recipes!
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From Beth Am’s beginning, the concept of Kiddush lunch was an important consideration. Judy Miller, who would become the congregation’s President from 1977-1979, spearheaded a group of women that included Sara Fishman (Beth Am’s president from 1984-1987), Sarajane Greenfeld, Gretchen Feldman, Harriet Estes, and Barbara Sachs to plan, organize, and prepare. Gefilte fish was an important staple. Sara Fishman recalls purchasing enormous cans of it that required an “industrial can opener” provided by her uncle who was in the food services business. During services, Judy’s young son Ian would go up to the balcony and do a headcount, so that the volunteers in the kitchen knew how much food to put out—not just gefilte fish, but kugels, challahs, salads, and desserts. And the menu evolved, according to Sara. “We went from gefilte fish to tuna salad to egg salad. I can remember going to [Beth Am] on Friday morning, and we would be chopping celery and shelling eggs or opening cans of tuna fish.”
For 50 years, Kiddush lunch has evolved, but continues to be significant to the Beth Am experience.
On May 20, 1975, the last board meeting of the year prior to the Annual Meeting, Judy Miller presented a Kiddush Committee report on the first year’s efforts.
“The Kiddush Committee has had a very successful season. We can say that with confidence for although we are new to the Catering Business, Beth Am Congregation has continued to call upon our services. We have handled six Kiddushim and one dessert with varied menus including: tuna fish, gefilte fish, egg salad, jello molds, kugels, macaroni and cheese, latkes for Chanukah, hamantaschen for Purim, and blintzes for Shavuoth, and our specialty—home-baked desserts.
A small but dedicated group of women has handled the preparation. On the Friday before each Kiddush, we have gathered at Beth Am at about 10:30 to prepare the food, dress the trays and set up the social hall. The tables and chairs have been set up the evening before by Murray Miller and his committee.
Although it is hard work, we feel strongly that our involvement in this part of congregational activities have been a rewarding experience. Not only is there a great sense of satisfaction for a job well done, but the comradery has grown among the participants has been and continues to be delightful. Over 50 women have ensured a delicious meal…. Without their help, the Kiddush as it has been would not be possible….
Having gone through one season, we feel we have learned a great deal—both through the trial-and-error method and the helpful suggestion of all involved. Without the benefit of an event count of how many people to expect, we have used 200 as the key number. By keeping a record of how much is left over or short, we will be more accurate with succeeding menus. As the service continues to draw more worshippers, our preparations will need to increase.
Through the kindness of several merchants and food brokers, we have been able to buy our food at cost, thereby keeping expenses to a minimum. Naturally the home prepared foods donated by the members continue to be a major factor in that regard. We have been averaging $1.00-$1.50 per person. The only other expenses include the paper products, and Charles, our kitchen savior who handles the last-minute details and kitchen clean-up. Men and women of the congregation has chipped right in to help with the serving and final clean-ups.
In the future, we feel we need to develop a rotating Chairman of the day so that the load of pre-preparation does not continually fall on the same people. We look forward to continued and increased involvement for the membership in all aspects of our work—for in the end we will only be able to continue the Family Service Kiddush with the help of everyone.”
Sara Fishman’s sour cream coffee cake recipe from the earliest days of Beth Am’s Kiddush lunches.
In 1989, Beth Am Board President Sol Snyder asked me to become Kiddush Chair. His vision – there should be enough food that he could eat lunch and then go to his lab at Hopkins. He told me that my budget was what I spent.
When I started as chair, Shabbos morning kiddush staples included some combination of whitefish salad, gefilte fish, pickled herring, carrots and celery, challah and sweets from Pariser’s Bakery. I added tossed salad, and fruit.
Once a month, when Beth Am had Family Service, lunch was a “pot luck,” and we needed additional help from members due to a larger turnout. I would write to members, asking them to volunteer to bring a main dish and/or sweets, and to volunteer to work in the kitchen, shop, set up, serve, or clean up. I had a spreadsheet on accounting paper. (This was before computers.) Months ran along the top, and there were columns for listing the names of those bringing a main dish or sweets, and those volunteering to shop, work in the kitchen, serve, and clean up.
As the responses came in, I filled in my spreadsheet, but there were always blank spaces, so I would sit at my kitchen table with the Beth Am directory and start calling people. I would ask if they could bring kugel, quiche, or pasta salad. If they said October didn’t work for them, I would ask if November or December would be better. If they didn’t have a recipe or know how to make something, I would offer a recipe. I would ask if they could bring in sweets. Some people baked, and others shopped—but we did get a lot of homemade goodies.
A snapshot of Kiddush potluck needs from a Beth Am bulletin.
There was a group of regulars who helped out at almost every monthly Family Service: Sadie Sachs, Blanche Shimmel, Dora Sachs, my mom, Elaine Guralnick, and Betsy Melnick. Blanche and Sadie had a specific way that they liked to arrange the sweets, and they were not shy in letting anyone know if they were doing it the wrong way.
Before the kitchen was remodeled, there were two big work tables in the center of the room, with butcher block tops and stainless shelves below. There was a large commercial can opener attached to the end of one of the tables to open the enormous cans of gefilte fish. We would bang the opener down on top of the can and turn its big handle. It was the equivalent of a workout. There were also four industrial-sized convection ovens. It took a lot of effort to open their doors, but the ovens accommodated a dozen kugels at one time.
Four serving stations were set up in the social hall, sweets were located on two long tables in front of the stage, and there was a kids’ station with peanut butter, jelly, and challah. (In 2006, with concern for children with peanut butter allergies, the board established a task force to develop a “peanut butter policy” and to make recommendations on how and when peanut butter would be available at Beth Am.)
A favorite at Beth Am lunches was blintz soufflé. Here is the recipe that was passed on to me.
Bonnie’s blintz souffle recipe
For 20 years, Harriet Miller provided Shabbat lunch for Beth Am. The kitchen in her Pikesville home was the cooking hub. Her two large freezers held the many, many entrees and desserts that would be enjoyed by Beth Am members. And her recipes were so much in demand that she produced two cookbooks, the first in 1999 and the second in 2016.
Harriet’s cookbooks: 1999 (left) and 2016 (right)
Proceeds from sales benefited Beth Am. At Beth Am’s 2022 Women’s Seder, Harriet was honored, and members produced an online cookbook. Harriet, and her culinary skills, were remembered fondly by Rabbi Daniel Burg at her funeral in February, 2025.
“Within the Holy City of Baltimore is a Holy congregation called Beth Am. Within Beth Am there are many opportunities to gather in holy community. The holiest time to gather is on Shabbat and the holiest time to gather at Beth Am on Shabbat is just after morning services – at Kiddush Lunch. And at the very center of Beth Am’s legendary kiddush for many years was one woman: Harriet Miller…. Harriet, always in motion, couldn’t understand why the shul was ordering food from the knish shop. “I can make a better, homecooked kiddush and save you money!” Beth Am said yes and the rest, as they say, is history. Harriet cooked and baked for Beth Am. She made tuna salad and pizza bagels – and the infamous Jello molds…. But Harriet was really known for her sweets. Banana bread, chocolate covered pretzels. I fell in love with her chocolate balls, which I felt deserved a more elegant name.
Harriet’s Chocolate Balls recipe
Alas, ‘Harriet’s chocolate hemispheres’ never caught on. But I recall walking down from the sanctuary on multiple occasions when Harriet would coyly beckon to me – and then reveal a treasure wrapped in a napkin: two of those delicious chocolate balls that she rescued from the dessert trays before they were picked clean.… [As] we celebrate our 50th anniversary, I feel it’s no exaggeration to say the work that Harriet did for years as our in-house caterer was as important to the life of our congregation as other major initiatives –and more important than most…. She was the heartbeat of our shul. She fed us, nurtured us, embraced us, regaled us with stories….”
With the onset of Covid in 2020, Kiddush lunch became a memory. Services were held on Zoom, and members missed the opportunity to share a meal. When in-person services resumed in February, 2022, masked congregants picked up boxed meals and walked to nearby German Park for a socially distant lunch.
But plans for a newly imagined Kiddush were already in the making before Covid. Congregants Ashley Pressman and Rachel Weitzner wanted to make the meal more inclusive and to better reflect the shul’s values. A number of congregants were not able to enjoy Kiddush lunch because of food sensitivities or dietary choices.
In the spring of 2022, Beth Am’s new Kiddush committee, armed with eight Insta-Pots, provided lunch options to appeal to all congregants. Vegan? Gluten-free? Dairy-free? Egg-free? There are choices, and all are clearly labeled to alert congregants of ingredients.
A Beth Am Board News clipping about the Peanut Butter Policy
Ashley and co-chair Clara Salzburg head a team of Beth Amers, who prep and prepare those Saturday lunches.
Here are two Kiddush favorites. Click each one to open as a PDF:
Dining in the Diaspora and the 613+ Dinner Project were two member-wide activities designed to bring congregants together over a meal.
Dining in the Diaspora
Dining in the Diaspora was created in 2019 to connect members while Beth Am was being renovated and we were away from our Eutaw Place home. For those hosting these meals, the instructions were flexible:
Congregants participate in a Dining in the Diaspora event.
613+ Dinner Project
The Torah contains 613 commandments. And Beth Am challenged the congregation to host 613+ Shabbat dinners before Rosh Hashanah 5773 (September 16, 2012).
The project had three goals:
Both programs offered opportunities to foster and enhance a sense of community, enjoy a delicious meal, schmooze with old friends, and make new friends.
