Two Months in the Life of My Jewish Boston |
When I moved to Brooklyn in 1980 after graduating from Princeton University, I joked, “I feel like I made aliyah.” Shuls, learning programs, the Upper West Side and even the long-gone Jewish Singles Datephone made the place magical for anybody interested in Jewish engagement.
Then, 46 years later, I moved from the New York suburbs to Reading, a town in the North Shore of Boston’s suburbs. I started all over again scoping out Jewish life in a new town.
I am gradually getting the lay of the new land. During year one in Boston, I found a rewarding amount of Jewish life, and not just in the Jewish neighborhoods of Brookline and Newton. One great advantage: Compared to New York, Boston is a compact area and its public transit system makes most venues more accessible than what I experienced getting from the Northern Westchester suburbs to NYC, when I needed 75 minutes just to reach Grand Central Terminal before slogging by bus or subway anyplace else.
One constant from the beginning has been my Shabbat attendance at Chabad of Wakefield, following up on my decade of involvement with Chabad of Bedford, NY. That bridge of spiritual familiarity greatly smoothed the transition from one state to another. I immediately had a home base.
Over just the past two post-blizzard months, I enjoyed an epic journey through Jewish Boston. Ports of call were:
April 6: The Moth StorySLAM at the Vilna Shul. I had long wanted to perform at a Moth StorySLAM event, and even attended a training session for aspiring speakers. I finally memorized a piece on the topic of “Questions”—performers cannot use notes or props—and drilled relentlessly. Performers are chosen at random by a host........