Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebooks, as of 2020, only are available directly from the author/publisher. To purchase a Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook, Email: BostonWalks

NOW AVAILABLE - (1) Phoenix Scottsdale Jewish Friendship Trail GuideBook
with 7 Tours of Sites of Phoenix Scottsdale Jewry!
Was $19.95 USD Now $8.00 USD + $3 Media Mail
Order your copy now directly from publisher.
(2) BostonWalks Jewish Friendship Trail GuideBook
with 6 Tours of Sites of Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge Jewry!
Was $19.95 USD Now $8.00 USD + $3 Media Mail
Order your copy now directly from publisher.
(3) BostonWalks The Ten Commandments GuideBook
with creative suggestions for approaching our Ten Commandments!
Was $19.95 USD Now $8.00 USD + $3 Media Mail

Order your reduced price copy now directly from publisher.
Email: BostonWalks

Discover the Boston homes of Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis here!

FileneBest of BostonNYC UWSBrandeis Love Your NeighborWatertown, New Town, & Muddy RiverWalk Near WaterRefute HateWalk West/North EndsWe're OnePray HereMeditationClubsBrooklineSensual WalksMore LoveReportingJewish BooksTENSouth End What's a political mensch? More "What's a political mensch?"

Click here to connect with Boston's Best! Boston, MA

"TD BankNorth Garden" Boston, MA - Site of the 2004 DNC!

Looking at Boston from the Cambridge side of the Charles River,
from which liberty and democracy flow!

Now available! The Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook 6 Self-Guided Walking/Bicycling Jewish Boston History Tours Covers Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge Softcover 198 pages with maps & b/w photos Click here Book Order Form to order now!

Now available! The Ten Commandments Guidebook Ways to Self-Struggle with Classic Morals In Song, Poetry, and Prose Covers 10 Commandments Plus One Other! Softcover 153 pages with practical suggestions pages! Click here Book Order Form to order now!

Boston Walks Home Historical Perspectives and Recollections of the original New England towns known as Boston, Watertown, Newtowne (Cambridge), & Muddy River (Brookline)

Copyright Michael Alan Ross 1997-2015
All Rights Reserved.

Email BostonWalks

Presentated by BostonWalks, Guidebook Publishers/Distributors Publishers and Distributors of BostonWalks' The Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook 2nd Edition and The Ten Commandments Guidebook

"We are God's stake in human history. We are the dawn and the dusk, the challenge and the test." A. Heschel, referring to the Jewish responsibility to bring Godliness to one's daily pursuits.

The English, who landed on America's shores in the seventeenth century and who often viewed themselves as new Israelites, might have theoretically agreed with this instruction from twentieth century Jewish theologian Heschel; but, in retrospect, they went astray in some of their interactions among themselves and with the native Americans whom they encountered here. Within a few years of the English settlors' arrival, the native Americans were decimated in numbers both from desease and warfare. The settlors by design or negligence, failed, de facto, to recognize native Americans prior rights to the lands along both sides of the "Charles" River. The English settlors proceeded to built habitats along that river, called it Charles, and created a Greater Boston, Massachusetts much in the image of the country which they left behind, England. Using the Charles River as our highway inland, let's peek at some moments of that English settlement. Watertown was one of the earliest English settlements, at the site of the Charles River's first major elbow-turn south, near the present day sites of Mt. Auburn Hospital and the river campus of BB&N School. Watertown's early significance, if any, related to its being a westernmost outpost, some six miles upriver from Boston. It was to become a river related industrial town and a farming community. It, also, was to be its own church parish...a must among early Massachusetts communities. Church parishes played an instrumental role in several aspects of these four Boston communities, particularly, during their first two hundred years (1630-1830) of English settlement. All members of each particular community, effectively, were required to join the community's parish church. Conversely, each parish church, effectively, could tax every household in its parish. Dissenters, atheists, agnostics, and, certainly, other religionists quickly passed through each of these communities in order not to wear out their welcome. Richard Saltonstall, an early Watertown founder, is a good example of one whose religious views determined his return to England when he declared his fellow settlors more restrictive in their religious beliefs and practices than the Church in England. The parishioners of these communities evidenced further lack of toleration in such matters as the location of each community and its boundaries, the location of each community's parish church, the division of governmental authority among each of these communities, and the division of the landholdings of each parish member. In spite of the intolerance within and among the parishes, the parish system in these four communities was conducive to uniform behavior, expectations, and community cohesiveness. During those two centuries, Watertown, as one of the two larger parishes, evolved from a farming community to one with considerable early industrialization. Boston realized itself as the urban center of the four. Cambridge, as the other large parish with a farming base, lay the ground work to evolve its theologically based college into something broader based. Brookline remained a relatively quiet farming suburb. To some large degree, it must have been the parish system that kept these four communities together during these centuries despite internal conflict. For, as soon as the parish system was dissolved by taking away the taxing authority from the parish church in the early nineteenth century, (1) two of these communities rapidly split into many: (a) Watertown lost huge portions of its area to Waltham, Lincoln, & Weston and lesser amounts to Belmont and Concord; and (b) Cambridge lost huge portions of its area to Lexington, Arlington, and Newton and a lessor amount to Belmont (2) a multitude of new churches (and, later, even synagogues) sprang up immediately. The centrality of the demise of the parish church in these dramatic changes is exemplified by the long drawn out conflict between the parishioners who lived near the top of Strawberry Hill and those who lived near today's Watertown Square. That the parish church/meetinghouse be located at the top or bottom of the hill was argued about incessantly during the eighteenth century. It was an argument left unresolved at the time the parish system ended. The parish church which stood for many years on Common Street was not rebuilt when fire destroyed it. Instead, numerous separate churches on the hill and down below took its place (Followed some years later by a new town - Belmont, uphill - taking some of the downhill town's - Watertown's - land area).

Links to Boston and New England

• Boston MA's Top Ten Waterside Places to Walk
  

• BostonWalks' Large Group Walking & Bicycling Tours of Boston & Environs
  

  Brookline MA Jewish History Sites
  

• Boston MA Jewish History Sites
  

• Boston's North End Synagogue Sites
  

• Cambridge MA Jewish History Sites
  

• Boston's South End Jewish History Sites
  

• Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge Houses of Worship

Click on our Filene photo-collage to connect to Boston's Jewish heritage!

Click on these links to read on-line selections from Michael Alan Ross' new, The Ten Commandments Guidebook: The original humorous satirical song lyrics, Please Keep Us Wealthy, considering the 8th Commandment, Don't steal! The original song, Try to Smile and Love Your Neighbor, considering what Mr. Ross labels the 11th Commandment, Love your neighbor as yourself! The original, satirical, political song, Capitalist Commands, considering the 10th Commandment, Don't Covet! The original, acrostic poem, Anti-Semite, considering the 6th Commandment, You shall not murder The original Walter Mittyish style daydream, Dance before God, considering the 2nd Commandment, Have one God only! The original exhortatory poem, From Atonement to Good Deeds, considering the 7th Commandment, No adultery.

Now available! The Jewish Friendship Trail Guidebook 6 Self-Guided Walking/Bicycling Jewish Boston History Tours Covers Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge Softcover 198 pages with maps & b/w photos Click here Book Order Form to order now!

Now available! The Ten Commandments Guidebook Ways to Self-Struggle with Classic Morals In Song, Poetry, and Prose Covers 10 Commandments Plus One Other! Softcover 153 pages with practical suggestions pages! Click here Book Order Form to order now!

"West End House" circa 2004
Begun by 35 Jewish boys in 1903!

Click here to connect with more of
Boston's Best!

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The Jewish Friendship Trail in Boston's West and North Ends includes the homes of
Brandeis and Filene

Copyright Michael Alan Ross, 2004-2015.
All Rights Reserved.

Email: BostonWalks Publishers

Chazak Ve-ematz “be strong and resolute” (Moses’ words to Joshua in Deut. 31:7)

Click here for 10 reasons for more bike trails!

Should orthodox women have the same opportunities to participate in learning, davening, and minhagim as men? Click here for an original, creative, poetic elaboration of such a question, Sheaylot

Isn't it time to Attract Middle Class Families Back into Our Cities? Here's 10 Ways to bring middle-class families back into cities like NYC: 10 Ways to Bring Middle Class Families Back into New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Atlanta, and other Cities considering the best of the suburban paradigm for our large cities.

Are you curious about what are some of the ethical reasons for single-payer universal health care insurance? 10 Moral Reasons for One Payer Universal Health Care Insurance for America in light of Hillel's If I'm only for myself, what am I?

To be satisfied with life perhaps, one might consider this raspberry!

Click here for an original, creative, re-interpretation for progressive Jews of Maimonides classic Jewish prayer of affirmation of Jewish faith, "Ani Maamin," THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES FOR PROGRESSIVE JEWS by Michael Alan Ross

Do you know how many Americans die yearly in car crashes?...
...How many?

When was the last time you really laughed? We're featuring good Jewish jokes! Check out this month's featured humor by clicking here! We know that there are other belly laughs our there. Email us at bostonwalks@hotmail.com with your contribution!

Isn't time to make unhealthy hospitals history? Here's 10 ways to make our hospitals healthier!

Sing Sense to America Remember the 21st century 1st decade presidential elections by singing some salivatingly satirical and serious song lyrics. To do so, try these on your tongue: CAPITALIST COMMANDS KEEP US WEALTHY LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

Question: What's a political mensch? Answer #1 Answer #2

BostonWalks Integrating the urban, modern Jewish American city experience with its historical sites and themes in such locales as Boston, MA, Portland, ME, East Bay and Providence, RI, and the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC.

FileneBest of BostonNYC UWSBrandeis Love Your NeighborWatertown, New Town, & Muddy RiverWalk Near WaterRefute Hate Walk West/North Ends We're One Pray HereMeditationClubsBrooklineSensual WalksMore LoveReportingJewish BooksTENSouth End What's a political mensch? More "What's a political mensch?"

Table of Contents of Boston Walks The Jewish Friendship Trail ZIONISTS WOMEN WATERTOWN,NEWTOWNE,MUDDY RIVER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE INSURANCE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS TEN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS GUIDEBOOK ORDER FORM SPIRITUALLY SHUSHAN SHULS OF BOSTON'S WEST END SHULS OF BOSTONS'S NORTH END SHEAYLOT SEATBELTS FOR SCHOOLBUSES SAUCYWALKS RHODE ISLAND WALKS RETAILERS A RED, WHITE & BLUE AGENDA PORTLAND, MAINE JEWISH SITES POLITICAL MENSCH STANDARDS 2 POLITICAL MENSCH STANDARDS 1 PATRIOT LEDGER ARTICLE CAR CRASH NEW YORK CITY UPPER WEST SIDE JEWISH SITES NEAR WATER BOSTON WALKS MIDDLE CLASS CITY LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY LAUGH LASHON HATZLACHA KEEP US WEALTHY THE JEWISH FRIENDSHIP TRAIL GUIDEBOOK ORDER FORM CAMBRIDGE MA JEWISH SITES JEWISH BOOKS BOSTON'S WEST & NORTH ENDS JEWISH SITES BOSTON'S SOUTH END JEWISH SITES OVERVIEW OF THE JEWISH FRIENDSHIP TRAIL THIS WEBSITE: BOSTONWALKS IN AWE HUMOR BOSTON HOUSES OF WORSHIP HEALTHY HOPITALS FILENE 10 WAYS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION CAN CHANGE AMERICA DANCE BEFORE GOD CONSERVATIVE JEWISH COMMIT CLUBS CAPITALIST COMMANDS BROOKLINE MA JEWISH SITES Brooklyn NY BRANDEIS THE BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE BOSTON'S BEST BIKE TRAILS ATONEMENT TO DEEDS ANTI-SEMITE ANI MAAMIN PHOENIX SCOTTSDALE, AZ