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It looks like a church, but murals reveal this shul's Jewish identity

JL;DR SUMMARY The Vilna Shul, Boston's last remaining immigrant synagogue, stands as a testament to the dynamic Jewish communities of early 20th-century Boston, particularly those from Vilna Gubernia in Lithuania. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HeritageEastern European JewsVilna ShulBostonSynagogue MuralsImmigrant CommunitiesPreservationUrban RenewalCultural CenterFolk Art

Places mentioned

Boston, Massachusetts, United States
"Boston. But only one of them still stands today: the Vilna Shul (built 1919) on the citys historic Beacon Hill."
Burlington, Vermont, United States
"Other examples include the Lost Mural in Burlington, VT and the Stanton Street Shul on the Lower East Side."
Vilnius, Vilnius County, Lithuania
"a mutual support group formed by immigrants who had been born in the same town or region in Eastern Europe. In this case, the landsmanshaft was for immigrants from Vilna Gubernia – the region around the city of Vilnius (Vilna in Yiddish) in modern Lithuania."
Warsaw, Mazovia, Poland
"Its dazzling interior decor – including zodiac symbols, animals and floral motifs – was painstakingly recreated by the Boston-based Handshouse Studio, and is now displayed at the POLIN Museum in Warsaw."
Bethlehem, Central District, Israel
"The ceiling retained its original decorations until they were covered at an unknown date with blue paint. The mural of Rachels Tomb, in the womens section Courtesy of the Vilna Shul"

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 49947
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-04-23 05:31:49 UTC
Curated 2025-04-23 08:31:44 UTC