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Saving Faith

Local Jewish history you never knew

vilnaPhoto: Kathryn Kennedy

T

he first Jew to arrive in Boston, in 1640, was immediately banished by the Puritans (although, among the American soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill was a Jewish volunteer from Gloucester, Aaron Solomon). Those who followed were required to convert to Christianity. It wasn’t until 1821 that Jews were granted citizenship, and they weren’t allowed to be buried here until 1844. That’s just some of Boston’s secret Jewish history. As recently as 1922, for example, the president of Harvard proposed a quota on the number of Jews admitted. Today, 4.3 percent of the state population is Jewish, the fourth-highest proportion in the country (after New York, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia).

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A Catholic shrine inspired by a Jew
 

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The first Jewish cemetery—where you least expect it
 

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A synagogue that’s a museum to Boston’s Jewish heritage
 

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A Boston milestone in American Jewish history
 

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The Jewish roots in a neighborhood you wouldn’t think to find them.
 

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