Do you know how many Americans die yearly in car crashes?...
...How many?



BostonWalks

Integrating the urban, modern Jewish American city experience with its historical sites and themes in such locales as Boston, MA, Portland, ME, East Bay and Providence, RI, and the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC.



When was the last time you really laughed?



We're featuring good Jewish jokes!
Check out this month's featured humor
by clicking here!

We know that there are other belly laughs our there.
Email us at bostonwalks@hotmail.com with your contribution!


Let's stop hospital infections!

Click here to learn how!




The Boston Walks


Host of BostonWalks' The Jewish Friendship Trail

Since 1993


"West End House" circa 2004 - Begun by 35 Jewish boys in 1903!

Click here to connect with more of Boston's Best!











Sing Sense to America


Are you ready to participate in the '08 presidential election by singing some salivatingly satirical and serious song lyrics? If so, try these on your tongue:





Now available!


The Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook

6 Self-Guided Walking/Bicycling Jewish Boston History Tours

Covers Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge

Softcover 198 pages with maps & b/w photos

Print out this
Book Order Form
to order now!



Now available!


The Ten Commandments Guidebook

Ways to Self-Struggle with Classic Morals

In Song, Poetry, and Prose

Covers 10 Commandments Plus One Other!

Softcover 153 pages with practical suggestions pages!

Print out this
Book Order Form
to order now!








Boston Walks
presents



The Jewish Friendship Trail


in


Boston



An Ethnic Group's Passage















Copyright Michael Alan Ross, 1997-2007.
All Rights Reserved.

Email: BostonWalks

Telephone: 617-489-5020







The Legacies of E.A. Filene


Featuring
Synagogues, Sites, & Stories

of

Boston's West, North, & South Ends



Related Pages




BOSTON HAS CENTURIES OF HISTORY UNDERFOOT AND UNDERTIRES!

Even prior to the European arrival in the 1630s, native Americans were walking along the Charles River. Each century since has left momentos of Boston history. Gather your large group (25-55 participants) and arrange to explore the neighborhoods adjacent to the Charles River with BostonWalks.


THE WEST END OF BOSTON includes a fascinating mix of colonial history in the 17th & 18th centuries and of immigrant history in the 19th and 20th (1st half) centuries. Its an area which we have explored on foot & bicycle many times. We particularly have sought evidence still extant of previous passage through there. While most of the structures of the West End were demolished in the 1950s & 60s, BostonWalks can lead your large group (25-55 participants) to some survivors.


LETS TAKE A BRIEF LOOK AT THE WEST END'S JEWISH HERITAGE 1880-1940!

At its peak in the 1st 3 decades of the 20th century, Boston's West End provided homes to approximately forty thousand Jewish immigrants! Most were Orthodox Jews and followed their religious practices - keeping Kosher, praying two or three times a day, working hard, keeping the Sabbath, maintaining strong family ties, and encouraging education of their children as the way to succeed in America. The buildings and sites of the West End's Jews were extensive. There were fifteen (15) synagogues in the West End of that period. Three of their sites survive today (One still is an active shul, now in a modern synagogue building.)! There were numerous Jewish communal, social, educational, and recreational sites also during those early years. One of these sites survives today! There was one Jewish hospital with two sites, neither of which exists today! Lastly, there were the retailers who served this community, of whom there are just hints of their existence today!


THE NORTH END'S JEWISH HISTORY 1880-1920!

At its peak during the mid-1890s, there were just under seven thousand (7,000) Jews living in Boston's North End! They constituted about a third of the North End's population at that time. The heart of the North End's Jewish community was Salem Street which was filled with Kosher butchers, bakers, tailors, delicatessens, clothiers, and food markets. New England's well-known food-chain Stop & Shop had a precursor in Solomon and Jennie Rubinowitz's "Greenie Store." Two alleys off Salem Street contained Orthodox Jewish shuls (synagogues) and Hebrew schools. A third major shul was on Hanover Street (There were at least three additional, smaller houses of worship.). By 1920, the very strong Jewish presence in the North End faded as the Jewish population moved on through the West and South Ends to Roxbury-Dorchester, Brookline - Newton, and Chelsea - Revere!



A POETIC LAMENT FOR JERUSALEM PLACE, NORTH END, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS!

Jerusalem and Baldwin Places, North End, Boston
Symbols of Eastern European Jews' presence 1880-1920
Were courts of two Jewish shuls (synagogues)
With companion Talmudim Torah (Houses of Bible Study)
Todays guided visitor can re-discover in them
A barely visible Mogen (Star of) David and block-lettered words "Hebrew School" halfway down each public way
Like plaques in honor of the 6,700 Jewish souls who once congregated here for prayer, study, and rest on Sabbaths and Holy Days
A respite from Salem Street's bazaar where on weekdays the same folks walked, talked, shopped, and played.
The Mogen David and block-lettered words "Hebrew School" today are the only echos.
Even the street sign for Jerusalem Place
Renamed in honor of its Jews in 1903 by the City of Boston
Is missing!



Overview: South End's Jewish History 1840s-1900s!


By the mid-19th century, sufficient Jews settled in the original Boston peninsula neck, later known as the South End, to form Massachusetts' first synagogue - Congregation Ohabei Shalom, the forerunner of Temple Ohabei Shalom of Brookline. This synagogue was the first of a half dozen South End Jewish houses of worship. Two others survive today as Temple Israel of Boston's Riverway and Temple Mishkan Tefila of Chestnut Hill.

Between the 1850s and 1870s, these synagogues, starting from the theater district, dotted the lower South End with their buildings. Then, from the 1880s to the early 1900s, they continued to build new facilities throughout the upper South End before moving on into Roxbury, Dorchester, and then, later, to their present locations. Some of their buildings survive today. A number of them have plaques commemorating their synagogue use. On our visits to these buildings, we have been impressed with their grandeur and handsomeness. They make great destinations for a group walk!









Click on these original songs and poems (and bookshop) links
from Michael Alan Ross' new book,
The Ten Commandments Guidebook










Links to Boston and New England






Now available!


The Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook

6 Self-Guided Walking/Bicycling Jewish Boston History Tours

Covers Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge

Softcover 198 pages with maps & b/w photos

Print out this
Book Order Form
to order now!



Now available!


The Ten Commandments Guidebook

Ways to Self-Struggle with Classic Morals

In Song, Poetry, and Prose

Covers 10 Commandments Plus One Other!

Softcover 153 pages with practical suggestions pages!

Print out this
Book Order Form
to order now!















"West End House" circa 2004
Begun by 35 Jewish boys in 1903!
Click here to connect with more of
Boston's Best!



























Chazak Ve-ematz
be strong and resolute

(Moses words to Joshua in Deut. 31:7)




Yea, Team! The Boston Red Sox and The New England Patriots!


From the Charles River, a red, white, and blue political agenda flows!


Copyright Michael Alan Ross, 1997-2007. All Rights Reserved.

Email: BostonWalks

Telephone: 617-489-5020





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Boston Walks

The Jewish
Friendship Trail


How do you imagine the relationship between freedom and responsibility within a democracy?

Check out this poetic interpretation:


In Defense of Liberty and Democracy, Freedom and Responsibility


considering the parasha of the week, Yitro.




Isn't it time to Attract Middle Class Families Back into Our Cities?

Here's 10 Ways to bring middle-class families back into cities like NYC:


10 Ways to Bring Middle Class Families Back into New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Atlanta, and other Cities


considering the best of the suburban paradigm for our large cities.




Are you curious about what are some of the ethical reasons for single-payer universal health care insurance?


10 Moral Reasons for One Payer Universal Health Care Insurance for America


in light of Hillel's If I'm only for myself, what am I?




When was the last time you really laughed?



We're featuring good Jewish jokes!
Check out this month's featured humor
by clicking here!

We know that there are other belly laughs our there.
Email us at bostonwalks@hotmail.com with your contribution!




Isn't time to make unhealthy hospitals history?

Here's 10 ways to make our hospitals healthier!








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