When Shirley Aronson moved to Annapolis in 1970 with her husband, she struggled to find a home. A real estate agent showed them a home in a “restricted neighborhood”: code for “no Jews.”
“Well, then, you don’t want us here. We’re Jewish,” Aronson recalled telling the agent.
The agent responded that Aronson and her husband were OK — it was the [Jewish slurs] that were unwanted. Aronson did not end up purchasing a house from that agent.
Aronson is the treasurer of Keneseth Israel in Annapolis. That congregation’s president, J.D. Goldsmith, co-founded the Jewish Federation of Annapolis & the Chesapeake last month along with philanthropist Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi. They aim to create a united front against antisemitism, which, though less common than in 1970, is still present today.
“We weren’t allowed to own property in certain neighborhoods. We weren’t allowed to go to beaches,” Mizrahi said. “But that has all really changed. The Black Civil Rights Movement and the Jewish Civil Rights Movement worked very closely together. … Obviously, there [have] been a lot of strides since then.”
An Anti-Defamation League study found that Maryland saw 356 antisemitic incidents in 2024, a 5% increase from 2023 and a 227% increase from 2022. The state is ranked fifth nationally, with a nearly even split between vandalism and harassment; seven incidents, however, were assaults. The state rates third nationally for school-related incidents.
A 2023 State of Maryland Hate Bias report showed Jewish identity as a motivator for 28% of hate crimes that year. World Population Review estimates that Jews make up around 4% of the state population.
In the past, many Jews arrived in Annapolis via the Naval Academy or St. John’s College, Mizrahi said.
Eric L. Goldstein, an associate professor of history and Jewish studies at Emory University, happened to grow up in Annapolis, his father a Naval Academy graduate. He said the discrimination Aronson faced was most prominent in the 1950s and ’60s, and was starting to fade by the time she had her run-in with the real estate agent.
As for modern trends, he said that though antisemitic events increased in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, the uptick was already appearing in the mid-2010s, between events like the Unite the Right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, and multiple shootings.
“Generally in American Jewish history … people assumed that antisemitism declined precipitously after World War II, and it seemed to decline significantly as a factor in American life,” Goldstein said. “I think what that really shows us is that these things go up and down depending on conditions. And historically, antisemitism tends to surge in specific time periods when there is economic crisis, where there’s rapid social change and cultural change, and people are looking for a scapegoat on which to blame their fears and anxieties about what’s going on in society.”
Mizrahi and others in the federation see a united front as key to dealing with antisemitism.
“We have some thriving individual Jewish organizations that each was trying to deal with it on its own, but the way to deal with the issues of antisemitism is through unity and to share resources and to be very open and systematic about being a partner and a friend to the police, to the public officials, to educators,” Mizrahi said.
A big part of the federation’s work at the moment is to raise awareness. It is preparing for Jewish Advocacy Day on Feb. 3. It is keeping track of rising antisemitic graffiti in local schools.
Mizrahi said the county has seen an increasing number of Jewish residents, many of whom are moving from larger cities. She wants the federation to be there to point them to where they can go among several congregations and programs, including a new chapter of BBYO, a group for Jewish teens.
Mizrahi said population data can be hard to find, but a 2019 study by Berman Jewish DataBank found that there were just over 95,000 Jews in the Baltimore region, including in Anne Arundel County. That is the most recent study the organization has done in Maryland. World Population Review estimates that the number is around 250,000 statewide in 2025.
Naama Krauz, whose husband works at the Naval Academy, is a supporter of the new federation.
“As a newcomer to the community, it sends a signal that this is a growing and thriving Jewish community, that we have an established federation that is there to take care of the Jews in Anne Arundel County from birth to death, so all of those life cycle moments,” she said. “Knowing that we have an established organization that’s ready to stand up and stand by and work towards creating this incredible Jewish future for our children, is really exciting.”
Krauz is also the community partnership manager for the PJ Library, a national program that sends free books to Jewish kids.
Annapolis’ newly inaugurated mayor, Jared Littmann, is Jewish and shares the excitement for the federation’s founding.
“As the new mayor of Annapolis, I am thrilled this organization now exists,” Littmann said in a statement. “Our community has a warm and growing Jewish community. This includes synagogues, youth programs, women’s and men’s clubs, veterans organizations, and more. Annapolis is a place for people of all backgrounds and faiths. As mayor, I look forward to expanding community partnerships, respect, and success for everyone.”
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