Preservation, Intrigue and Property: Dissolving Boston's Vilna Shul Congregation 1985-2001

This book tells the story of how a dying synagogue congregation on Boston’s Beacon Hill (the Vilner Congregation, which built and operated the Vilner (Vilna) Shul on Phillips Street) filed what it thought would be an uncontested dissolution plan. The petition instead triggered a reaction in which Jewish communal groups, local synagogues, preservationist interests, First Amendment religious rights, the Court system and Boston political/regulatory interests intersected with a real estate recession to create a legal maelstrom lasting over fifteen years (from 1985-2000) involving control of the shul’s real estate and Torahs. Over the ensuing years, much of the details of what occurred have been obscured. Here at long last is a carefully researched and definitive history of the dissolution of the Vilner Congregation, written by the author of History of the Boston Synagogue 1888-2013.

Michael Weingarten is author of History of the Boston Synagogue 1888-2013, published in May 2013. He has lived in Boston’s Back Bay since the late 70s/early 80s with his wife Susan – where they raised two sons. His relationship with the Boston Synagogue (where he is currently Treasurer) goes back to the early 1990s (although he never played a direct role in the events discussed in this book). On the preservationist side, he is a member of the board of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. Professionally, he is a Managing Director at Signal Lake, a high-tech venture fund located in Boston and Westport, Connecticut. In a previous lifetime, he received a B.A. and M.A. in European History from Columbia University before deciding to pursue a career in business (receiving an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School). Writing these histories about the Jewish community of the West End is therefore a return to his aspirations as a young adult.