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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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).

The history of the SOHO Cast-Iron Historic District, from Canal Street to Houston Street and West Broadway to Crosby Street, is as diverse as can be.  From a pristine meadow, to affluent housing, to an entertainment district with numerous brothels, to a manufacturing center with hundreds of cast-iron masterpieces, to an urban wasteland slated for demolition, to an artist enclave and finally to a shopping Mecca with upscale boutiques. And through all that, it was also home to three of the oldest Jewish congregations and Synagogues in New York City, the early garment district, the first Broadway musical which influenced the Yiddish theater and the makers of very famous Kosher and Passover wine. 

Join educator and urban historian Bradley Shaw as he takes you through this great, walkable neighborhood with beautiful architecture and upscale, exclusive shopping including one of the most exclusive luxury Judaica stores in NYC. Bradley 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.

Nestled between Harlem to the south and Inwood to the north, Washington Heights is a distinctive Jewish enclave within the landscape of New York’s larger Jewish community. Of the 125,000 German Jewish refugees that arrived in America in the 1930’s and 40’s, the “Heights” attracted over 20,000, mostly from Southern Germany. It soon became populated with synagogues, Jewish social and cultural clubs and successful businesses serving as a “starter” community for its myriad of residents. By the 1950’s and 60’s it saw the arrival of new immigrants from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Greece, the Dominican Republic, and African Americans moving in from Harlem. This area welcomed them all and transformed into a classic multi-ethnic NYC neighborhood. The 1980’s brought more dramatic changes as many of the younger generation began moving out to the suburbs and to Riverdale for the better life that their parents initially hoped to find In the Heights. Please join educator and urban historian for a walking tour to explore this unique Jewish community that continues to thrive to this day. Along the way we will see: the former Mt. Zion Synagogue; The campus of Yeshiva University (which moved up here from its original Lower East Side home in 1928); the Chabad Shul; the Shenk Shul; Congregation Hebrew Tabernacle; Fort Tryon Jewish Center and Beth Hamedrosh HaGadol. We will also view noted NY landmarks and talk about legendary Jewish figures who have passed through this special neighborhood.

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. 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 us for an in-person tour of the magnificent Bialystoker Synagogue, which was built in 1826 as a Methodist Church and believed to be a stop on the Underground Railroad. In 2016, Bialystoker was awarded one of ten of America's Most Beautiful, Inspiring, and Unique Synagogues by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Hear a presentation of Lower East Side history and learn about the largest active congregation on the Lower East Side today.

Marvel at this synagogue, resplendent in colorful murals showcasing Tiffany inspired stained glass windows. See it's ceiling covered with rare, hand-painted and treasured mazaales - representations of the signs of the zodiac. This is one of the few surviving examples left of what once were countless Eastern European synagogues boasting these depictions. Those synagogues (and their mazaales) were destroyed by Nazi forces. The Conservancy is the only touring organization with access to this site!

Find out why there is a lobster painted on the ceiling.

A portion of the proceeds are returned to the synagogue.

This tour is given by long-time Conservancy guides and Lower East Side residents Paul and Lori Weissman.

****Please note that to access the sanctuary, there will be stairs to climb. This site is not ADA compliant.