This article appeared in the Oct. 8, 2004 Jewish Advocate.

Tour maven leads Jewish Boston walk

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

Sometimes the greatest adventures and experiences lie right outside one’s door. While global and national travel hold much excitement and enrichment, one’s immediate area shouldn’t be overlooked, especially for those fortunate enough to live in a vibrant and historic area like Boston.

“Boston, the sixth largest Jewish community in the US, has set many precedents for the Jewish people,” said Dale Myerow Stanten, who led a walking tour of Jewish Boston on Oct. 3. Her destination management company, Dale Myerow Associates, has specialized in event planning for corporations, conventions and reunions, for over 14 years. The tour, she explained, “creates and retraces a memorable journey of how the Jewish people established themselves, and the contributions they made to the legacy of richness and culture of Jewish Boston today.”

The group met at Faneuil Hall and for over three hours, proceeded to sites in the North End, the West End, and the northern slope of Beacon Hill. On Hanover Street, Stanton pointed out the first Russian Congregation, Shomrei Shabbos, which was founded in 1872. On the third floor, the first Talmud Torah opened in 1883.

At the North Bennett Street Industrial School on Salem Street, she explained that it was where the "Saturday Evening Girls" met, a group of immigrant children who were introduced to American culture under the auspices of Helen Osborn Storrow and other society matrons. On Cooper Street, the tour included stops at the Benoth Sheltering Home (1891), the Jewish Dispensary for Women and Children (1892) and the Baron DeHirsch Dispensary

for Men (1892).

They stopped for a time at the Vilna Shul at 14-18 Phillips St., which was built in 1919 by Jews from Vilna and acquired by the Boston Center for Jewish Heritage in 1990. Volunteer Ron Goodman talked about the efforts to restore the shul as Boston’s historic Jewish museum, which have been largely funded by a Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Projects Fund challenge grant. Goodman discussed the sanctuary’s design and logistics and talked about current programming, which includes a speaker series and Havurah on the Hill, a group which holds services, Shabbat meals, classes and talks at the site. Goodman explained that to date, the building has received a new roof and heating system, and its skylights have been repaired. However, he noted that although benefactors and supporters include Leonard Nimoy and the Kraft family, there is a great need for more funding. The Center has no paid staff; all funds go to its restoration and programming.

Following the Shul, the group stopped at other Jewish and non-Jewish Beacon Hill sites, which included John Kerry’s home in Louisburg Square, Acorn Street, which is Boston's most photographed alley, the purple windowpanes along Beacon Street and the Boston Athenaeum.

A Mattapan native of a Yiddish-speaking household, Stanten is married and lives on the North Shore. She is currently taking a JCC Yiddish class, and has spoken at Sisterhood congregation donor dinners on the evolution of the Jews in Boston. She has children and grandchildren, and a wide breadth of knowledge gained from several professions, which include working as a registered nurse and serving on the board of the YWCA of Cambridge’s "Hinge for Hope" mission, which empowered women on welfare with career skills.

“I plan charter busing and limos, shuttles, events for children and adults, and for conferences and convention groups, meet/greet tours, registration of personnel, and hospitality, which includes gifts and city activities for attendees and visitors,” she said.

While doing this work, Stanten, sensing a need for local Bostonians to learn about their neighborhoods, began an “Urban Safaris” subsidiary, which arranges day trips, social activities and cultural tours for individuals, organizations and corporate groups. “Our walking tours, directed by professional guides with expertise in the local customs and history of Boston, focus on various ethnic groups and neighborhoods,” she said. Local destinations include the Arnold Arboretum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Botanical Glass Flower Museum and the JFK Library, as well as Beacon Hill private homes, Red Sox games, the Boston Ballet, Quincy Market, Boston Harbor Cruises, the Aquarium and Tea party Ship, a“Brahmins, Bostonians and Scollay Square” tour, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Further out, she arranges treks to Cape Ann, Cape Cod, the Concord Literary Trails, Marblehead/Salem, Lexington/Concord, and Freeport, Maine shopping. For kids, there are Scavenger Hunts, “Teen Tempo,” the Cool for Kids Fun Festival, parties, sports tours, music events and more. She arranges many arts, dance and creative art workshops as well.

Local and international clients include the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society, the USS Waldron Alumni Association, Raytheon, the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, Suffolk University, the Mass Dental Society, the American Academy of Neurology, Hadassah, the Retired Army Nurses Corps Association, Marblehead, Needham, Belmont, and Dracut Continuing Education and other area school organizations, and many other educational, medical, religious, corporate and community groups. Stanton advertises to her own mailing list, as well as with Community College and Enrichment programs at other schools.

Upcoming offerings include a Foliage Tour aboard the Conway Scenic Railway and Outlet Shopping on Oct. 9, La Boehme at Lincoln Center on Oct. 9, a Harvest Wine Festival at Stonington Vineyards and Jonathan Edward's Winery in Connecticut on Oct. 10, a Tour of Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge Overpass Art Festival on Oct. 16, Walking Tours of Harvard Square and Tory Row on Oct. 17 and Prescott House and Beacon Hill on Oct. 23, Lady Liberty and Ellis Island on Oct. 23, Beechwood Mansion and The Elms of Newport Rhode Island on Oct. 24, a Tour of Harlem, the Apollo Theater and a Gospel Lunch on Oct. 30, and a 26th St. Annex Fair and Flea Market in Manhattan on Oct. 31.

For information on Dale Myerow Associates/Urban Safaris, call 781-592-3284, Email Sstanten@comcast.net or visit www.DaleMyerowAssociates.com.

For information on the Vilna Shul, visit www.vilnashul.com, contact Dave Schwarzman at 617-817-0073 or daves@vilnashul.com or Janet Giesser, Executive Director of the BCJH at 781-416-1881 or jgiesser@bcjh.org.