TRAVEL

It would have been one thing to just offer a
new low roundtrip El Al airfare to Israel.
But for just $16/day: we decided to go ahead
and also offer five nights in a first class hotel.
Plus free breakfasts. Plus a free car rental.
Not all at once now

ELI 'd A LP/

Boston's Charles River Park Synagogue.

A—
*

Historic Boston:
Jewish History

The Airline of Israel.

RUTH ROVNER

Special to The Jewish News

S

To find out more about our Sunsational vacation package, call
your travel agent or 1-800-EL AL SUN. Or for a free brochure,
write: El Al, P.O. Box 8000, Woodside, NY 11377-9850.

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'$16/day plus airfare available till 2/29/92 (excl. 9/20-10/10/91 & 12/16-1/Y92). 14-day advance purchase required. Based on
per person double occupancy. Car rental does not include gas, mileage and insurance. Other restrictions may apply.

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alem Street in Boston's
colorful North End is a
typically narrow street
of snug houses and small
shops. Like other streets in
this area, it has a history. At
the end of Salem is Old North
Church, where the lanterns
were hung the night of Paul
Revere's famous ride.
"This was Paul Revere's
neighborhood, and it's also
the place where all the plans
for the Revolutionary War
were hatched in secret," says
Judy Eidelman, my guide, as
we walk up Salem Street.
At No. 22 Salem, we find a
plaque telling us that this
was where Sophie Tucker
once lived. She's one of many
notable Boston Jews whose
roots are here in the North
End, the place where we
begin a tour of Jewish Boston.
"This is the oldest ethnic
neighborhood in Boston, and
it was where the Jews of
Boston lived in the early
1900s," says Ms. Eidelman,
who often gives specialized
tours of Jewish interest in
Boston.
As we stroll Salem Street,
she describes what the
neighborhood was like when
Sophie Tucker lived here,
when there were six
synagogues within a few
blocks and when Jewish
cultural facilities like settle-
ment houses flourished.
"They were called 'Satur-
day Evening Girls' Clubs' at
the turn of the century," Ms.
Eidelman says. "Settlement
houses were common to all
ethnic groups. The Jewish
ones were run by synagogues,
and they sponsored activities
like cooking classes and baby
clinics. They would teach
young Jewish women how to
be homemakers."
As she talks, we continue to
explore an area that now has
a distinct Italian identity.

Along the narrow, cobble-
stoned streets we pass Italian
restaurants, bakeries, and
small cafes where people sip
expresso and cappucino.
"The Irish, Jews, Por-
tuguese and Italians have all
lived in the North End," Ms.
Eidelman says. "But from the
1880s to the 1920s, the
neighborhood was largely
Jewish."
That's when Barry Gold-
water's grandfather was a
peddler here, when Bernard
Berenson — who later became
a distinguished art critic —
lived here, and when Jewish
North Enders founded the
first Zionist organizations in
the nation.
Jewish history in the North
End started in 1782 when
Moses Michael Hays arrived.
His nephew, Judah Hays, was
one of the founders of the
First National Bank of
Boston. "And he is believed to
be the first Jew in Boston to
hold elective office when he
was elected as fire warden in
1805,'.' says Ms. Eidelman,
who knows her history well
both as a guide and as a
Boston native who lived in
the city until she married and
moved to the North Shore.
By the turn of the century,
the North End was the center
of an active Jewish life. That's
when the settlement houses,
synagogues and small Jewish
businesses flourished. But as
the Jews prospered, they
started to move elsewhere.
"And change came very fast,"
Ms. Eidelman says. "By 1930,
almost all the Jews had left."
Our next stop follows one
route they took when we go
from the North End of Beacon
Hill onto the North Slope.
This area, too, is one of the ci-
ty's most distinctive. It's an
area of tree-lined streets,
sedate townhouses and out-
door gas lights.
We climb the hilly streets
until we find Phillips Street.
On this narrow street is the
Vilna Shul, 70 years old, and