May 05, 2008 — Brandeis University
Rabbi Elliot Kaplowitz and Toby Goldfisher Kaplowitz of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Brandeis took over two dozen students on a tour of Jewish Boston on Sunday, March 16, 2008. The tour was led by Professor Ellen Smith (NEJS) and gave students a taste of early as well as more recent Boston Jewish history. The tour started at New England Holocaust Memorial, characterized by six blue-tinted, internally lit glass towers representing the six main Nazi death camps. Professor Smith then led students through a walking tour of Boston’s West End to the historic Vilna Shul on Phillips Street in Beacon Hill. Students then visited Maimonides School in Brookline, where they were treated to a catered meal from Ruth’s Kitchen (Brookline) and heard Rabbi Joseph Shapiro speak about the famed Rav Dr. Joseph Soloveitchik’s role in the 20th century Boston Jewish community. Students gave rave reviews about the tour, which may have been just the first in a series of Brandeis JLIC-sponsored tours about Boston Jewish history