Boston

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Despite Boston’s importance in American history, Jews did not settle in the city in significant numbers until the mid-19th century. Boston’s first synagogue was founded by Polish Jews and was soon followed by a German synagogue. The city’s Jewish population grew over the last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th as Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe increased. During the 1930s and 40s, anti-Semitism was prevalent in Boston due to the influence of Father Charles Coughlin. Over the following decades, the Jewish community moved to Boston’s northern suburbs as Jewish Bostonians largely moved into white-collar jobs.

Boston’s Jewish community is one of the most academic in the United States due to the numerous colleges and universities located in the Boston area. Today, there are approximately 248,000 Jews in the Boston area, making it the fourth-largest Jewish community in the country. The community supports dozens of synagogues of all denominations, several Jewish schools, kosher restaurants, and numerous community organizations.

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