Visit the New York neighborhood defined by wealth and opulence, home of 'Our Crowd'--that storied cadre of 19th century 'German' Jews who scaled the heights of social respectability in Gilded Age NYC.

David E. Kaufman, your guide for this tour, was born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the Bialik Hebrew Day School and the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School. He holds degrees from Columbia College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Brandeis University. A PhD in American Jewish History, he has taught at numerous colleges such as CUNY, Brown University, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles and Hofstra University. In addition to numerous articles on the social, religious, and architectural history of the American synagogue, Dr. Kaufman has authored two books: Shul with a Pool: The Synagogue-Center in American Jewish History (Brandeis, 1999) and Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish Identity (Brandeis, 2012). David currently lives on the Upper West Side and is engaged in public education, researching, writing, and teaching the history of the New York Jewish community.

The notorious Five Points neighborhood in Manhattan was memorialized by Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film “Gangs of New York.”  It told of one of the worst slums that ever existed and the Irish and Nativist gangs that battled for neighborhood dominance.  This highly fictionalized story took place in the 1850’s and 60’s but was based on a very real neighborhood centered in what is today’s Chinatown.

But did you know the real Five Points was also one of the first Jewish neighborhoods in New York City?  Before the great Eastern European migration to the Lower East Side from 1880 to 1920, immigrant Jews with no money from mostly Eastern Europe, settled and suffered and built their synagogues within the confines of this notorious slum.

Join urban historian and educator Bradley Shaw as he walks you through “The Ould Sixth Ward” and tells of how this diverse group of residents dealt with the squalid and unsanitary conditions.  

Some of the things you will learn about:

How the neighborhood came about

The people who lived there

The first Jewish garment district

The oldest Jewish cemetery in the US

The Jewish congregations of the area - some of the oldest in NYC

A Chinese response to a deadly Russian pogrom in 1903

Infamous streets and buildings

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Join American Jewish historian David Kaufman in a three part Zoom series on the extraordinary story of the Jews of New York City--the greatest urban Jewish center in the history of the Diaspora.  Part I will look at the first century and a half of Jewish life in a rapidly growing city, focusing on the process of Americanization during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods.  Part II explores the century-long wave of immigration and community-building that made New York a 'melting pot' of multiple nationalities including a core Jewish component.  And part III covers the past century of this history, a period of amazing achievement and cultural contribution by New York Jews .  We'll conclude with some consideration of whether that 'golden age' is now over--or not.

David E. Kaufman, your guide for this tour, was born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the Bialik Hebrew Day School and the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School. He holds degrees from Columbia College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Brandeis University. A PhD in American Jewish History, he has taught at numerous colleges such as CUNY, Brown University, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles and Hofstra University. In addition to numerous articles on the social, religious, and architectural history of the American synagogue, Dr. Kaufman has authored two books: Shul with a Pool: The Synagogue-Center in American Jewish History (Brandeis, 1999) and Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish Identity (Brandeis, 2012). David currently lives on the Upper West Side and is engaged in public education, researching, writing, and teaching the history of the New York Jewish community.

Start your time on the Lower East Side on historic East Broadway discussing along the way The Forward, the largest Jewish Yiddish newspaper, Straus Square, The Educational Alliance, The Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library, and Seward Park, the country’s first municipal park. Have a sweet treat at Michaeli Bakery, known for their babka and bourekas. See the Jarmulowsky Bank Building, the famous Hester street, once filled with hundreds of pushcarts, then continue down Essex Street, where we will stop at The Pickle Guys. See an assortment of pickled fruits and vegetables brining in the barrels. Hear the history of the Essex Market. Our next stop will be Economy Candy, selling sweet sugary confections from floor to ceiling since 1937. Finally we walk down Houston Street with its famous old food establishments such as Katz Delicatessen and appetizing store Russ & Daughters, which has been selling herring and other traditional Jewish appetizing foods since 1914. Our final stop will be at The Original Yonal Schimmel Knishery (Knish Bakery), which has been selling both savory and sweet knishes since 1910. 

Please note: food is purchased individually along the way and not included in the cost of the ticket.

Your guide for this delectable tour is Svetlana Kershtein, a professional tour guide who has worked on three continents and holds a a Masters degree in History, specializing in the history of the ancient world.

Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel where she worked as a licensed tour guide for 11 years. Svetlana's passion for Jewish history, art, music, and cuisine is reflected in her popular tours. She is fluent in three languages (Russian, Hebrew, and English).

Visit the only New York Jewish neighborhood that has maintained a sizable Jewish presence throughout its history, once characterized as "a territory almost without equal as a mythic site of contemporary Jewish experience (Josh Lambert).”

David E. Kaufman, your guide for this tour, was born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the Bialik Hebrew Day School and the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School. He holds degrees from Columbia College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Brandeis University. A PhD in American Jewish History, he has taught at numerous colleges such as CUNY, Brown University, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles and Hofstra University. In addition to numerous articles on the social, religious, and architectural history of the American synagogue, Dr. Kaufman has authored two books: Shul with a Pool: The Synagogue-Center in American Jewish History (Brandeis, 1999) and Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish Identity (Brandeis, 2012). David currently lives on the Upper West Side and is engaged in public education, researching, writing, and teaching the history of the New York Jewish community.

Learn where leaders of the Jewish Underworld began their nefarious activities, and discuss questions of morality, power, & assimilation. Arnold Rothstein, Meir Lansky and Bugsy Siegel were all notorious gangsters whose criminal activities extended to Atlantic City, Miami, Cuba and Las Vegas, but their stories began on the Lower East Side of New York. We will examine where these leaders of the Jewish underworld began their nefarious activities. Along the way we will analyze questions of morality, power and assimilation. Use your imagination to evoke what once existed, as we view sites that were associated with these Jewish Gangsters.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Join American Jewish historian David Kaufman in a three part Zoom series on the extraordinary story of the Jews of New York City--the greatest urban Jewish center in the history of the Diaspora.  Part I will look at the first century and a half of Jewish life in a rapidly growing city, focusing on the process of Americanization during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods.  Part II explores the century-long wave of immigration and community-building that made New York a 'melting pot' of multiple nationalities including a core Jewish component.  And part III covers the past century of this history, a period of amazing achievement and cultural contribution by New York Jews .  We'll conclude with some consideration of whether that 'golden age' is now over--or not.

David E. Kaufman, your guide for this tour, was born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the Bialik Hebrew Day School and the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School. He holds degrees from Columbia College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Brandeis University. A PhD in American Jewish History, he has taught at numerous colleges such as CUNY, Brown University, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles and Hofstra University. In addition to numerous articles on the social, religious, and architectural history of the American synagogue, Dr. Kaufman has authored two books: Shul with a Pool: The Synagogue-Center in American Jewish History (Brandeis, 1999) and Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish Identity (Brandeis, 2012). David currently lives on the Upper West Side and is engaged in public education, researching, writing, and teaching the history of the New York Jewish community.

From 1880 to 1924, almost 3 million Jews left the Pale of Settlement in Eastern Europe for a better life where the streets were paved with gold, the land of opportunity; the United States. Most settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where the opportunity WAS abundant, but their salaries and living conditions were subpar at best.  The great majority were not happy, but too overwhelmed by their new homeland to complain.  But some, like Lower East Side residents Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Morris Hillquit, Abraham Cahan and Meyer London, knew there should be a better life and were willing to do just about ANYTHING to get there. This walking tour will focus on these “radicals” - anarchists, communists and socialists all - who tried to change the structure of the American Way to improve the lives of these immigrants and improve their standard of living - whether through our democratic process or through lawless acts of violence. Some of the places we will visit: The Daily Forward Building, The first home of Emma Goldman in NYC, Locations of radical cafes, The location of the Yom Kippur riots of 1898, The still active DSA - Democratic Socialists of America, The Educational Alliance - whose benefactors were anything but radical, and The Henry Street Settlement.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Tour the TWO remaining grand synagogues left in this iconic neighborhood, the cradle of American Jewish civilization. One is the first synagogue in America purpose-built by immigrants from Eastern Europe, and the other a former church, believed to be a site on the Underground Railroad. We start our tour at the Bialystoker Synagogue, the largest active Orthodox congregation on the Lower East Side today, famous for its colorful murals representing the signs of the zodiac, and Tiffany inspired glass windows, and end at the Museum at Eldridge Street, known for its magnificent restoration and breathtaking East Window designed by artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans. In between these two building tours we will walk down historic East Broadway, discussing The Henry Street Settlement, Lillian Wald, The Educational Alliance, Shteiblach Row, Seward Park, Rutgers Square, The Forward building, and more!

Your guide for this tour is Svetlana Kershtein, a professional tour guide who has worked on three continents and holds a a Masters degree in History, specializing in the history of the ancient world.

Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel where she worked as a licensed tour guide for 11 years. Svetlana's passion for Jewish history, art, music, and cuisine is reflected in her popular tours. She is fluent in three languages (Russian, Hebrew, and English).

Join American Jewish historian David Kaufman in a three part Zoom series on the extraordinary story of the Jews of New York City--the greatest urban Jewish center in the history of the Diaspora.  Part I will look at the first century and a half of Jewish life in a rapidly growing city, focusing on the process of Americanization during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods.  Part II explores the century-long wave of immigration and community-building that made New York a 'melting pot' of multiple nationalities including a core Jewish component.  And part III covers the past century of this history, a period of amazing achievement and cultural contribution by New York Jews .  We'll conclude with some consideration of whether that 'golden age' is now over--or not.

David E. Kaufman, your guide for this tour, was born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the Bialik Hebrew Day School and the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School. He holds degrees from Columbia College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Brandeis University. A PhD in American Jewish History, he has taught at numerous colleges such as CUNY, Brown University, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles and Hofstra University. In addition to numerous articles on the social, religious, and architectural history of the American synagogue, Dr. Kaufman has authored two books: Shul with a Pool: The Synagogue-Center in American Jewish History (Brandeis, 1999) and Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish Identity (Brandeis, 2012). David currently lives on the Upper West Side and is engaged in public education, researching, writing, and teaching the history of the New York Jewish community.

Brighton Beach was always famous as a simple residential neighborhood attracting people with its wide sandy beaches, ocean breeze and tons of attractions on neighboring Coney Island. But did you know that it started as an upper middle class resort with several luxury hotels, largest bathing Pavillion, race track and famous outdoor concert venues. In early 1920s resorts were replaced with the residential neighborhoods and a lot of Jewish immigrants, mostly young families, moved here escaping overcrowded LES and some other areas of the city. They built a number of synagogues and opened many Jewish business. After short period of prosperity the Great Depression hit, and Brighton Beach changed significantly filled with tens of thousands of jobless homeless Jewish families who overcrowded once luxurious spacious apartments. In the following years there were additional waves of Jewish immigrants from Europe escaping the Nazis ,holocaust survivors after the WWII. The influx of Soviet Jews in 1970s changed the face of Brighton Beach completely, filled it with young people, exotic food and culture, made it “Little Odessa by the Sea”. In our tour we’ll visit some of the old functioning synagogues, see the once luxury Art Deco houses where Jewish immigrants of 1920s lived, walk the famous Brighton Beach Ave talking about Russian Jewish immigration, see the spot where the original Brighton Beach resort hotels once stood. At the end we’ll visit the Holocaust memorial park the only public Holocaust memorial park in the city.

Your guide for this tour is Svetlana Kershtein, a professional tour guide who has worked on three continents and holds a a Masters degree in History, specializing in the history of the ancient world.

Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel where she worked as a licensed tour guide for 11 years. Svetlana's passion for Jewish history, art, music, and cuisine is reflected in her popular tours. She is fluent in three languages (Russian, Hebrew, and English).

Learn where leaders of the Jewish Underworld began their nefarious activities, and discuss questions of morality, power, & assimilation. Arnold Rothstein, Meir Lansky and Bugsy Siegel were all notorious gangsters whose criminal activities extended to Atlantic City, Miami, Cuba and Las Vegas, but their stories began on the Lower East Side of New York. We will examine where these leaders of the Jewish underworld began their nefarious activities. Along the way we will analyze questions of morality, power and assimilation. Use your imagination to evoke what once existed, as we view sites that were associated with these Jewish Gangsters.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Start your time on the Lower East Side on historic East Broadway discussing along the way The Forward, the largest Jewish Yiddish newspaper, Straus Square, The Educational Alliance, The Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library, and Seward Park, the country’s first municipal park. Have a sweet treat at Michaeli Bakery, known for their babka and bourekas. See the Jarmulowsky Bank Building, the famous Hester street, once filled with hundreds of pushcarts, then continue down Essex Street, where we will stop at The Pickle Guys. See an assortment of pickled fruits and vegetables brining in the barrels. Hear the history of the Essex Market. Our next stop will be Economy Candy, selling sweet sugary confections from floor to ceiling since 1937. Finally we walk down Houston Street with its famous old food establishments such as Katz Delicatessen and appetizing store Russ & Daughters, which has been selling herring and other traditional Jewish appetizing foods since 1914. Our final stop will be at The Original Yonal Schimmel Knishery (Knish Bakery), which has been selling both savory and sweet knishes since 1910. 

Please note: food is purchased individually along the way and not included in the cost of the ticket.

Your guide for this delectable tour is Svetlana Kershtein, a professional tour guide who has worked on three continents and holds a a Masters degree in History, specializing in the history of the ancient world.

Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel where she worked as a licensed tour guide for 11 years. Svetlana's passion for Jewish history, art, music, and cuisine is reflected in her popular tours. She is fluent in three languages (Russian, Hebrew, and English).

NYC was always the place of the largest Jewish community in US. How and when the first Jewish community of this city was founded. Who were those people and where did they come from. We’ll trace the fascinating story of a very small group of Jews from Brazil who came to NY harbor in 17 century, stayed here and founded the first Jewish community and the synagogue later. We’ll follow their life in New Amsterdam and their struggle for equal rights and freedoms for Jews people. The tour will start at the mouth of NY Bay where we’ll talk about the Jewish settlement of Caribbean region and their arrival in New Amsterdam harbor. We’ll see the monument to those first Jewish settles from Brazil and tell the story of their arrival and their fight to stay in the colony. Then we’ll stroll the old streets of New Amsterdam tracing life stories of some of these individuals. On the way we’ll get to the spot of the first synagogue of NYC, Sheath Israel, talk about it’s history. At the end of the tour we’ll reach the oldest Jewish cemetery in US located in what is now Chinatown. There is a significant amount of walking on this tour.

Your guide for this tour is Svetlana Kershtein, a professional tour guide who has worked on three continents and holds a a Masters degree in History, specializing in the history of the ancient world.

Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel where she worked as a licensed tour guide for 11 years. Svetlana's passion for Jewish history, art, music, and cuisine is reflected in her popular tours. She is fluent in three languages (Russian, Hebrew, and English).

From about 1880-1920, almost 3 million Jews immigrated to the US from Eastern Europe and most settled in the Lower East Side of Manhattan - making it the most densely populated place on earth.  To escape that overcrowding, most of the more affluent Jews moved to the much more open landscape of upper Manhattan, making Harlem the third largest Jewish neighborhood in the world behind Warsaw, Poland and the Lower East Side.

Join educator and urban historian Bradley Shaw as he brings alive Jewish Harlem, before it became the center of African-American history, music and culture.  See and hear stories about the many Synagogues that still proliferate the area, many of which have become Baptist Churches.  Also hear about some of the famous Jewish people who grew up and lived in the neighborhood.

Some of the places visited:
“The Shul with the Pool”
A building that has hosted three different religions
An original Jewish Theater
Churches that still retain their original Jewish markings
An Ethiopian Synagogue
A beautiful Vaux and Olmstead designed park with a historic surprise
The homes of Jewish entertainers, entrepreneurs, musicians, and writers

Please note: this tour requires significant walking.

Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

As one of the most iconic neighborhoods in NYC, it is no surprise Greenwich Village is also one of its most historic and politically charged. From NYU and Washington Square Park, to its legendary music venues, to the famous people who lived there, to its cultural impact, the Village is as popular today as when Dylan, Springsteen, Hendrix, Ginsberg and others roamed the streets looking for gigs. But did you know the Jewish History of Greenwich Village goes back well over 200 years? Congregation Darech Amuno, now housed in a 150 year old converted townhouse, has existed in the Village since 1838. One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the country is hidden in plain sight on West 11th Street. One of the first homes of Temple Emanu-El was in a converted Baptist Church on East 12th Street from 1854-1868. Add this and other sites to the great list of Jewish musicians, artists and activists who lived in the Village and you have many interesting things to appreciate. 

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

As one of the most iconic neighborhoods in NYC, it is no surprise Greenwich Village is also one of its most historic and politically charged. From NYU and Washington Square Park, to its legendary music venues, to the famous people who lived there, to its cultural impact, the Village is as popular today as when Dylan, Springsteen, Hendrix, Ginsberg and others roamed the streets looking for gigs. But did you know the Jewish History of Greenwich Village goes back well over 200 years? Congregation Darech Amuno, now housed in a 150 year old converted townhouse, has existed in the Village since 1838. One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the country is hidden in plain sight on West 11th Street. One of the first homes of Temple Emanu-El was in a converted Baptist Church on East 12th Street from 1854-1868. Add this and other sites to the great list of Jewish musicians, artists and activists who lived in the Village and you have many interesting things to appreciate.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Approximately one hundred years ago in the heart of the Lower East Side, it seemed like every street had at least one synagogue to satisfy the burgeoning Orthodox Jewish community. Some of those religious sites were small shtieblach, (one room houses of prayer) that were usually located in tenement apartments – with many buildings housing multiple Shuls in each. Quite a few however, were located in buildings of varying size including converted townhomes and churches. There were also those that were original construction, designed by famous architects on a grand scale to fit a large, expanding congregation.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Walk from the Plaza to the Met on Fifth Avenue looking at the mansions and talk about the Jewish influence in the neighborhood. The Harmonie Club, Guggenheim’s, Adler’s, Strauss’, Goldman, Berkman and Frick, Temple Emanu-El, and even Jeffrey Epstein.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Learn where leaders of the Jewish Underworld began their nefarious activities, and discuss questions of morality, power, & assimilation. Arnold Rothstein, Meir Lansky and Bugsy Siegel were all notorious gangsters whose criminal activities extended to Atlantic City, Miami, Cuba and Las Vegas, but their stories began on the Lower East Side of New York. Use your imagination to evoke what once existed, as we view sites that were associated with these Jewish Gangsters.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn is a neighborhood steeped in history and tradition and is home to one of the largest concentrations of Haredi Jews in the world. As you walk through the streets, you'll notice the distinctive attire of the Chasidic men and woman as well as the businesses which complement the still growing population. Join educator and urban historian Bradley Shaw as you explore this fascinating neighborhood, including significant synagogues like Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom, the oldest Orthodox Jewish congregation in Brooklyn, and Beth Elohim, an 1875 Gothic Synagogue built by Reform Jews and now housing a Chasidic Yeshiva.   You will also visit Lee Avenue, the main shopping area, Bais Rachel, a NYC High School turned girl’s Yeshiva and hear other stories of the fabric of Chasidic Williamsburg, with a little bit of Hipster Williamsburg mixed in.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Come explore the world center of clothing manufacture, the historic 'Garment District' of New York City. Built by Jewish developers and architects in the 1920s, the area represents something unique to New York City--an entire neighborhood created for the benefit of a single industry--familiarly known as the 'rag trade', a business pioneered and dominated by Jewish New Yorkers.

Still the epicenter of American fashion, hemmed into 24 Blocks, the creation of the Garment District is one of the most important events in the history of American urban planning and politics, and one that has had enormous consequences for the shape of New York City today.

David E. Kaufman, your guide for this tour, was born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the Bialik Hebrew Day School and the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School. He holds degrees from Columbia College, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Brandeis University. A PhD in American Jewish History, he has taught at numerous colleges such as CUNY, Brown University, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles and Hofstra University. In addition to numerous articles on the social, religious, and architectural history of the American synagogue, Dr. Kaufman has authored two books: Shul with a Pool: The Synagogue-Center in American Jewish History (Brandeis, 1999) and Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish Identity (Brandeis, 2012). David currently lives on the Upper West Side and is engaged in public education, researching, writing, and teaching the history of the New York Jewish community.

Let's visit Baghdad of the 1920s, a city with a higher percentage of Jews that modern New York. We will meet local politicians like Menahem Saleh Daniel, economic leaders like Sasson Hezqel and the part each played in Iraqi national project. We will see the Iraqi juggernaut families like the Sassoons and Kadoories who fought for dominance as far away as China and will hear the convulsing debates over Zionism that eventually resulted in the Humiliations and Expulsions.

Your presenter for this talk is Richard Sassoon, an Iraqi-American of Jewish heritage who graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Fordham University Law School with a J.D. with an LL.M. in European Business Law from Madrid’s Universidad Pontificia Comillas. He currently works at UnitedLex as a Contract Manager, but has previously held roles at Samsung Engineering, J.P. Morgan, and several law firms. Richard is an American Sephardi Federation Broome & Allen Fellow. Richard has a long-standing interest in diverse cultures and regions, having visited over fifty different countries, meeting various high-level diplomats with Jewish organizations, working on three continents, and handling legal documents in five languages.

The first place to call in America for millions of Jewish immigrants to America were tenements on the Lower East Side. What was life like for them? Get a sense of this with a tour led by Randy Settenbrino, the artist, architect, and developer who transformed the last Jewish tenement on Orchard street into an award-winning hotel. Built in 1879, the Historic Blue Moon is a National Geographic recognized destination hotel. The Blue Moon is also home to Sweet Dreams Cafe, a kosher homage to Nona Carolina’s 1930’s Trattoria Vesuvius, featuring handmade mozzarella, raviolis, gnocchi, all sauces cream, pesto, marinara. Indeed, all desserts and delicacies are baked on the premises. Included in this tour is full-meal featuring: Focaccia, antipasti choice of hand, mozzarella plate with pesto and balsamic glaze, soup zuppe del giorno, entrée eggplant parmigiana, lasagna classico, or  plant-based risotto with salmon, a fusion dish that has all the beauty of the Italians and Jews. Made with pappardelle eggs, zucchini, vegan Italian sausage, rapini, and mushrooms. The spicey one has pepperoncino and the cheese one has provolone, mozzarella, and hand-grated parmigiana. A glass of wine and dessert house made lemon tiramisu or Tuscan Italian cheese cake.

Your guide and chef for this tour, Randy, received his FBA from Brooklyn College. His brainchild The Historic Blue Moon, the last Jewish tenement on Orchard Street, was chosen by National Geographic as “One of a Hundred in The Western Hemisphere to Check into” as well as Allan Sperry’s select in “100 Best little Hotels”, Best boutique Hotel by New Yorker Magazine and City Search. Blue Moon has been the recipient of over forty major articles, NYTimes. L.A. Times, International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg, London Chronicle, Toronto Star, Wall Street Journal, & Forward.

Approximately one hundred years ago in the heart of the Lower East Side, it seemed like every street had at least one synagogue to satisfy the burgeoning Orthodox Jewish community. Some of those religious sites were small shtieblach, (one room houses of prayer) that were usually located in tenement apartments – with many buildings housing multiple Shuls in each. Quite a few however, were located in buildings of varying size including converted townhomes and churches. There were also those that were original construction, designed by famous architects on a grand scale to fit a large, expanding congregation.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn is a neighborhood steeped in history and tradition and is home to one of the largest concentrations of Haredi Jews in the world. As you walk through the streets, you'll notice the distinctive attire of the Chasidic men and woman as well as the businesses which complement the still growing population. Join educator and urban historian Bradley Shaw as you explore this fascinating neighborhood, including significant synagogues like Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom, the oldest Orthodox Jewish congregation in Brooklyn, and Beth Elohim, an 1875 Gothic Synagogue built by Reform Jews and now housing a Chasidic Yeshiva.   You will also visit Lee Avenue, the main shopping area, Bais Rachel, a NYC High School turned girl’s Yeshiva and hear other stories of the fabric of Chasidic Williamsburg, with a little bit of Hipster Williamsburg mixed in.

Your guide, Urban Historian and educator Bradley Shaw, was born on the Lower East Side, has a BA in History and Education from Brooklyn College and is a licensed NYC tour guide. He shares with us his love of the neighborhood and passion for its history. He has been a docent, walking tour guide and manager at the Museum at Eldridge Street for more than six years, in addition to doing walking tours for the LESJC, Context Travel and his own company NY History Tours.

The notorious Five Points neighborhood in Manhattan was memorialized by Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film “Gangs of New York.”  It told of one of the worst slums that ever existed and the Irish and Nativist gangs that battled for neighborhood dominance.  This highly fictionalized story took place in the 1850’s and 60’s but was based on a very real neighborhood centered in what is today’s Chinatown.

But did you know the real Five Points was also one of the first Jewish neighborhoods in New York City?  Before the great Eastern European migration to the Lower East Side from 1880 to 1920, immigrant Jews with no money from mostly Eastern Europe, settled and suffered and built their synagogues within the confines of this notorious slum.

Join urban historian and educator Bradley Shaw as he walks you through “The Ould Sixth Ward” and tells of how this diverse group of residents dealt with the squalid and unsanitary conditions.  

Some of the things you will learn about:

How the neighborhood came about

The people who lived there

The first Jewish garment district

The oldest Jewish cemetery in the US

The Jewish congregations of the area - some of the oldest in NYC

A Chinese response to a deadly Russian pogrom in 1903

Infamous streets and buildings