Needham Community Education

Join Dan Dain, author of the book A History of Boston, as he guides you through a history of Jewish Boston. The discussion will begin with Jewish immigration in the Colonial Period, and continue on to the larger waves of immigration from Central Europe in the 1840s and 1850s and from Eastern Europe in the 1880s to the1920s. We will examine settlement patterns in and around Boston; the creation of Jewish businesses from the garment district to Jewish banks, law firms, hospitals like Beth Israel, and even crime syndicates; the rise of violent antisemitism in the 1930s; economic integration and success since the second half of the 20th century; and today’s rising antisemitism and uncertainty. Limited to 24.