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Major Announcement: New Shul in Downtown Boston

The Kennedy family, Senator John Kerry, Teresa Heinz, musician David Lee Roth and businessman Jack Welch have an unlikely neighbor: A bearded Lubavitch bochur visibly sporting a yarmulka and tzitzis.

Beacon Hill, regarded as one of the most desirable and expensive neighborhoods in Boston, is now the new home of Rabbi Mayer Zarchi.

Where statesmen, poets, novelists and jurist once roamed, the son of the 770 Mashpia Rabbi Shlomo Zarchi will be leading davening and teaching Torah and Chassidus.

Zarchi, a protégé of the legendary Chabad scholar Rabbi Yoel Kahn, was recently approached to head the first religious orthodox Jewish establishment in the area. He has been working for the past years at Chabad House at Harvard, run by his brother Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, and built a strong friendship with many in the medical and financial field.

One of them was Benjamin Rapoport, an Harvard-MIT scientist who was raised in a Torah observant family in New York City.

“I always been mystified and surprised there was no functioning orthodox shul in this area,” he said. “There is a large hospital here and many Jews come from around the world – let alone all the young professionals who work and live here.”

After meeting the young Zarchi at the Chabad in Cambridge, “we became really good friends. Mayer is a wonderful person, has a sharp mind, is enthusiastic and the right person to start this.”

The offices of The Shul of Downtown Boston, located on Marlborough Street, will be serving Jewish professors, writers, lawyers and the many students in Beacon Hill, Back Bay and the Financial District.

“This is a unique location which boasts people from all fields of academia,” said Zarchi. “They appreciate the Chabad cerebral approach with its emphasis on action.”

We have learned that there is great excitement among local Chabad Shluchim in the Greater Boston area about this new development.

“being personally aware of the spiritual hunger among the many young Jews in the area, with no address to turn to, this is a fantastic project that will finally serve the thousands of Jews in this important yet neglected part of Jewish Boston,” says Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi who is who is thrilled about his brother’s move.

Rabbi Mayer said he’s been teaching many, many people from these prestigious neighborhoods and is already organizing minyanim there. This new hub is a natural step ahead serving an area hungry for spiritually.

For more information on the Shul of Downtown Boston visit their website DowntownJewish.org.

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12 Comments

  • Mazel Tov for Reb Yoel

    Mazel Tov Mayer! You are a great treasure in Lubavitch. Jewish Boston is lucky to have you.

  • Yitzchok Gurevicz

    Amazing news! The perfect guy for the job! The Shluchim have finally laid claim to such a prestigious community thereby furthering the goal of “Yofutzu” to the highest levels.

  • Proud Lubavitcher-Chabadnik!!!

    WOW!!!! This is unbelievable,,,,,for Chabad to break through w/such prestige in that neigborhood and in Harvard bichlal!
    Hey Zarchis! YOU ROCK!!! YOU ARE AN AMAZING TEAM!!!

  • Mazel Tov!

    Meir you are an amazing talent, you have the mind the heart and all the social class. The best kept secret in Chabad! you are like a hit movie waiting to be released. Hatzlach!!!

  • Admirer

    Meir We are so proud of your accomplishments and continue to make your parents proud. Proud to be related !!! Cant wait to visit you there…

  • Admirer

    Meir We are so proud of your accomplishments and continue to make your parents proud. Proud to be related !!! Cant wait to visit you there…

  • You know Who:)

    Mayer Zarchi!!
    looking fine as ever!!
    the suit tie is workin for you!
    who know changing place, changes mazal:)
    Your the perfect candidate for a talented fellow to run a whole synagogue!
    im very impressed and proud of you!
    dont forget about the us here!!
    -you know who!