The Vilna Shul

The Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture and the only surviving landmark of Boston’s immigrant Jewish past, touches something deep inside each of us: a profound yearning for connection to our roots. But it is more than nostalgia that calls to us. It is the future. With our 100-year-old building located in one of Boston’s most historic neighborhoods, The Vilna is a compelling destination and welcoming backdrop for urban adult populations to deepen their Jewish identity, foster new relationships, and feel a greater sense of connection and belonging. Over 100 years ago, immigrants from Vilnius Gubernia - the province encompassing the present-day city of Vilnius, Lithuania (“Vilna” in Yiddish) - bravely set sail for America to build a new life for themselves and formed a landsmanschaft (an organization for families from the same area in Eastern Europe) in 1888 on the north slope of Beacon Hill in Boston's West End. They gathered to pray in their apartments, and, by 1906, their numbers swelled. They purchased the former 12th Baptist Church at 45 Phillips Street and used it as synagogue until 1916. When the building was then taken by eminent domain by the city to expand a school, the congregation was given $20,000 to leave 45 Phillips Street. Eager to build their own center for Jewish life, immigrant families used the money to boldly erect a new synagogue. And in 1919, they laid the cornerstone at 18 Phillips Street.