Partial transcript of an oral history interview with Rabbi Oscar Bookspan conducted by Kathleen McCormack. In 1958, Rabbi Bookspan became the first full-time resident Rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in West Roxbury. He is currently the Rabbi of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah after a merger of the congregations of Temple Beth Torah and Temple Beth Hillel Rabbi of the Dorchester Mattapan area took place five years ago. Rabbi Bookspan talks about the history of the Jewish community in West Roxbury which began growing between 1946-1956 with the increase of Jewish immigrants to the area. In 1954, Temple Beth Torah was officially organized, and Rabbi Bookspan talks about the subsequent growth of the Temple’s congregation. The Rabbi also describes the Temple’s Hebrew School which had recently merged with Milton’s Temple Shalom Hebrew School. Rabbi Bookspan describes activities held by interfaith organizations, such as the Parkway Interfaith Association which he helped establish, and the effect of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) on these types of groups. He also emphasizes his involvement in school integration and fair housing in West Roxbury, claiming fair housing and school integration were carried out in West Roxbury before other neighborhoods in Boston. The Rabbi also talks about some of the changes he has seen in the neighborhood which include an aging demographic, an increase in Jewish owned businesses on Centre Street, and the increase of renters in West Roxbury. Other topics include the Parkway Concert Association, Rabbi Maynard Schlager, Cantor Simon Erdman, Beth Torah’s Parkway Jewish Women’s club and Parkway Jewish Men’s Club, a combined Thanksgiving Eve Service between the Temple and Christian Protestant groups, and Cardinal Richard Cushing. The transcript is missing pages four and five and portions have been omitted, edited, or paraphrased.
