Lost Mural Project

Join us on Sunday August 18 for a pair of tours highlighting Burlington's Immigrant Community through the eyes of its Jewish newcomers:

At 9:30 take our Walking Tour of Burlington’s Little Jerusalem
In the 1880s, a group of families from Kovno, Lithuania, escaped persecution by emigrating to the United States. They settled in Burlington, surrounded by a landscape that reminded them of home.They were the original families of Burlington's Jewish community, and for decades they preserved the Yiddish language and orthodox religious traditions in one compact Burlington neighborhood. That history will be presented through a walking tour led by Aaron Goldberg and Jeff Potash, historians and archivists of Burlington’s Jewish life and culture. The tour will start at the George Little Park on North Winooski Avenue & Archibald Street. It will be rain or shine, so dress accordingly.

At 11:00 take our Little Jerusalem/Lost Shul Tour
We will reassemble at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue (188 North Prospect Street) and join Aaron and Jeff to explore Burlington’s Jewish-Lithuanian immigrant history and the Lost Shul Mural, a unique example of the lost genre of painted wooden synagogue wall murals. Through photos and surveys, participants will understand how a village and its culture was transplanted from Lithuania and lovingly sustained here in Burlington.

"In the summer of 1974, before his first year at Brandeis, Aaron Goldberg '79 stopped by a popular carpet shop in his hometown, Burlington, Vermont, to pick up a rug for his dorm room.

He spotted an old, faded mural on a wall inside the shop that seemed completely out of place. It depicted a series of traditional Jewish religious themes and symbols: a pair of lions symbolizing the biblical tribe of Judah, flanking the tablets of the Ten Commandments; a crown with ribbons inscribed with Hebrew words; and above it all, a sun emanating golden rays.

Goldberg had an inkling that the painting might be a forgotten relic of the city's Jewish immigrant past. ..."

Aaron Goldberg's Quest to Save a Precious Jewish Mural in Vermont In the summer of 1974, before his first year at Brandeis, Aaron Goldberg '79 stopped by a popular carpet shop in his hometown, Burlington, Vermont, to pick up a rug for his dorm room.