Before shutting down in September of 2020, the Jewish Advocate was the oldest continually-circulated English language Jewish newspaper in the United States. The publication offered news pertinent to the local Jewish community of Boston as well as those nationally and internationally. Though originally founded as a local news periodical, it became a leading voice in the push for American Zionism around the 1910s and continued to support the movement up until its closure.

The Advocate was founded in 1902 as a monthly periodical for Mount Sinai Hospital, one of the first Jewish hospitals in Boston. It was then acquired by Jacob de Haas, an early Zionist leader who had moved to America at the request of Theodore Herzl. The paper went through numerous name changes under his leadership and eventually became the Jewish Advocate. After leaving to take the position of National Executive Director of the Zionist Organization of America under Louis D. Brandeis, de Haas sold the newspaper to Alexander Brin in 1917. Brin ran and greatly expanded the Advocate for 63 years until his death in 1980. Joseph G. Weisberg and Bernard J. Hyatt ran the paper from 1980-1984 and 1984-1990 respectively until Rabbi Y. A. Korff took over. Korff published the advocate until 2020 and oversaw its transition into the digital realm.

This map traces the history of the Jewish Advocate from 1902 to 2020, telling the story of the paper through discussion of five key buildings relevant to its development. Albert Ehrenfried’s book A Chronicle of Boston Jewry: From the Colonial Settlement to 1900 proved particularly helpful for this storymap. The Jewish Advocate’s own archives and website were essential to crafting the narrative of this map as well. Resources and references consulted are listed on the final slide and below.

The following story-map was created and built by Nate Gillin. The map is viewed best on a desktop device.