Though the congregation formed in 1654, it was not until a year later that the colony's governor, Peter Stuyvesant, gave it official permission to be established. However, they continued to face discrimination and were not allowed to worship anywhere for some time. Despite these difficulties Shearith Israel was able to&nbsp;establish a cemetery in 1656. Eventually, the congregation was able to find rented&nbsp;places to worship. This continued until 1730 when the first temple was built. The congregation built four other structures, including the current one, the coming decades.&nbsp;

Established in 1654, Congregation Shearith Israel is the oldest congregation in North America. It built this temple in 1897. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

View of the sanctuary. Photo: Congregation Shearith Israel

Website

Founded in 1654, Congregation Shearith Israel is the oldest Jewish congregation in North America. Its current temple is a historic structure built in 1897. The congregation, which has remained Orthodox since its inception, was the only one in New York until 1825. As such, it was the center of Jewish life for that entire time. It was founded by 23 Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin living in Recife, Brazil. They traveled to New York (at that time it was a small Dutch colony called New Amsterdam) to escape the Inquisition bought by the Portuguese, who defeated the Dutch to capture control of Recife. The congregation today remains a center of Orthodox life in the city, offering educational and religious programming for children and adults, as well as other activities. 

Congregation Shearith Israel

This trail connects residents and visitors of New York to numerous Jewish cultural and religious landmarks. The trail begins at the Jewish Museum of New York and includes several other museums such as Derfner Judaica Museum, the Jewish Children's Museum, and the Jewish Museum of New Jersey. The tour also includes numerous synagogues and temples, including Congregation Shearith Israel and New York's Central Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark. The tour also includes the Bialystoker Synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim, Congregation Tifereth Israel, Eldridge Street Synagogue, the former Temple B'Nai Abraham, Sutton Place Synagogue, and numerous other landmkarks throughout the New York and New Jersey metro area.

The Museum began after Judge&nbsp;Mayer Sulzberger donated a collection of art to the Jewish Theological Seminary library. With the donation, he made a suggestion that a museum be created for similar works like the ones he donated. The library served as a museum until 1944 when&nbsp;Frieda Schiff Warburg donated her mansion on 92nd street to the Jewish Theological Seminary. The mansion was to be used as a museum for Jewish art, and thus, the Warburg's mansion has served as the Jewish Museum since 1947.&nbsp; However, the Museum has expanded beyond the original mansion. In 1959, a sculpture&nbsp;court was built beside the mansion. Then, in 1963, a new building, the Albert A. List Building, was constructed to add additional space for the Museum. This would only be the beginning of the Museum's expansion. Under the leadership of Joan Rosenbaum, the&nbsp;Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director of the Museum from 1981 to 2011, the Museum doubled in size to add room for educational programs and exhibits.&nbsp; During the expansion from 1990 to 1993, a permanent exhibit was incorporated into a two-floor plan. The exhibit is called Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey. There are 800 works of art in this exhibit, and these works trace the Jewish experience from antiquity to present day. According to the Museum's website, this exhibit explores two important questions: "How has Judaism been able to thrive for thousands of years across the globe, often in difficult and even tragic circumstances? What constitutes the essence of Jewish identity?" The exhibit tries to answer these questions by showing how Jewish culture has adapted to changing circumstances while holding strong to Jewish values.&nbsp;

Founded in 1904 with just 26 donated objects, the Jewish Museum of New York now contains almost 30,000 items including art, ceremonial objects, and media. The museum is one of the oldest museums dedicated to Jewish history in the world and the oldest in the United States. The mission of the Museum is to show how art mixes with Jewish culture. By devoting their efforts to this mission, the Jewish Museum helps expose the public to Jewish customs and history, while also helping define the Jewish identity. 

The Jewish Museum of New York

Central Synagogue originated from the convergence of two separate congregations, Shaar Hashomayim and Ahawath Chesed. Since the congregation of Ahawath Chesed saw continued growth, they banded together in 1870 and commissioned for the construction of a great synagogue. The synagogue was completed and dedicated in 1872, and in 1898, the congregation of Shaar Hashomayim opted to merge with Ahawath Chesed. In 1917, years after the merger, the congregation decided to change the synagogue's name to Central Synagogue in order to better represent the entire body of members. Central Synagogue flourished after the merger and saw continued, consistent attendance for decades to come.In the late 1990s, Central Synagogue was undergoing a three-year renovation plan in order to refurbish the synagogue. However, on August 28th, 1998, a fire was started in the midst of the reconstruction effort, which ultimately destroyed the roof, support beams, organ, and parts of the floor of the synagogue. The skeleton of the synagogue was saved, however, and reconstruction efforts quickly began with the help of numerous community leaders worldwide. After years of reconstruction, the Central Synagogue was rededicated on September 9, 2001. In memory of both the reconstruction and the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, the 10th-anniversary re-dedication of the Synagogue paid tribute to both events.

A National Historic Landmark, Central Synagogue is the largest and oldest synagogue in New York City, and it hosts one of the largest North American Jewish congregations. Established in 1872, Central Synagogue has seen consistent growth in its congregation and welcomes any and all visitors to its great halls. In addition to traditional attendance and membership, the Synagogue also livestreams its services online for those who are physically unable to attend.

Central Synagogue, New York City

The congregation of Sutton Place Synagogue was originally incorporated in 1901 as the "Beth Hamedrash Hacodosh Talmud Torah" Congregation. It was formed by Jews in a&nbsp; neighborhood within the German and Irish community of East Midtown Manhattan. The synagogue was located in a loft above a Blacksmith's shop at 401 East 50th Street until 1906, when it moved into a building on East 51st Street purchased from the Congregation Orach Chaim. Under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi David B. Kahane, the congregation became the conservative East 51st Street Synagogue in the 1950s. Rabbi Kahane (leader from 1949-1993) began the Jewish Town Hall Lecture Series, as well as High Holy Day Services for Singles. In 1965, United Nations Secretary General U-Thant recognized the synagogue as the Jewish Center for the United Nations for its active participation in the international and political community 

On September 3, 1976, the present Sutton Place Synagogue opened at 225 East 51st Street. Elie Wiesel, Henry Kissinger, and Isaac Bashevis Singer are three of the many speakers to participate in the Jewish Town Hall Lecture Series at Sutton Place Synagogue since 1981. In 2001, a new religious school was opened, featuring a nursery school and educational programs. The building was refurbished by Israeli craftsmen and included a rooftop playground and garden overlooking the waterfall of Greenacre Park. An outreach program, the PJ Library, mails monthly shipments of children's literature and music to Jewish families in the area.

The Sutton Place Synagogue has been considered the Jewish Center for the United Nations since 1965. Its congregation dates to 1901, when the synagogue was held in a loft above a Blacksmith's shop. Since relocating to 51st Street near the United Nations, the synagogue has actively participated in the international and political community, as well as holding the Jewish Town Hall Lecture Series (featuring speakers such as Elie Wiesel, Henry Kissinger, and Isaac Bashevis Singer) since the 1980s. In addition to regular services, a participatory musical service is held on the second Friday of each month.

Sutton Place Synagogue

On the night of September 10, 2001, the congregation finalized their plans for their new synagogue. With the events of 9/11 the following day, these plans were postponed until 2004, when BKSK Architects and LWC Design renovated the residence into a modern, multi-level synagogue with a skylit sanctuary with a mezzanine level. In 2005, the sanctuary was awarded by American Institute of Architects, which was founded by none other than Richard Morris Hunt, the building's original designer.&nbsp;As an inclusive congregation, the East End Temple was designed to feel welcoming, accessible, and non-hierarchical. The temple also holds a religious school for K-7th grades, adult education programs such as the Israeli Film Series, and the Helene Spring Library (in the former dining room of the townhouse). Religious, music, comedy, and guest speaker special events are hosted in the East End Temple sanctuary and library, as well as in nearby Stuyvesant Square.A Holocaust Torah from the former&nbsp;nation of Czechoslovakia, on extended loan, is displayed in the library. Liturgical texts are inscribed in a wall made of stone from Jerusalem, and a bronze gate cast over handwritten prayers of the congregation encloses the ark. Ten hand-blown glass lights overhanging the sanctuary represent the minyan, the ten people required for a traditional Jewish service.&nbsp;

The East End Temple is housed in a four-story French Renaissance townhouse designed in 1883 by Beaux-Arts architect Richard Morris Hunt in 1883, as a residence for prominent New York lawyer Sidney Webster. The building's exterior is a designated New York Historic Landmark. The El Emet (God of Truth) Reform Jewish Congregation, which was founded by a group of Stuyvesant Town World War II veterans in 1948, transformed the interior into their new synagogue in 2004. In 2004, BKSK Architects and LWC Design renovated the residence into a multi-level synagogue designed to feel welcoming, accessible, and non-hierarchical. The temple also holds a religious school for K-7th grades, adult education programs such as the Israeli Film Series, and the Helene Spring Library (in the former dining room of the townhouse).

East End Temple

The Angel Orensanz Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery
located in New York's Lower East Side. Angel Orensanz Angel
Orensanz is a Spanish sculptor and painter. He has lived in New York City since
1986. During one of his first art premieres in NYC, he discovered an abandoned
and rundown synagogue. The 1849 Neo-Gothic Jewish Synagogue located on 172
Norfolk Street in the heart of the Lower East Side is a replica of the Sistine
Chapel in Rome and the temple of Solomon. 

&nbsp;In the mid-19th century, the Lower East Side was home
to the German Jewish immigrants immediately after the failure of the socialist
revolution of 1848. The newly formed Congregation, Ansche Chesed, hired the
German architect Alexander Saeltzer to build a new synagogue. At the time, it
was the largest synagogue in the United States holding up to 1,500 worshipers.
For a time, the synagogue thrived, but by 1974, the Slonim community had
dispersed. The synagogue was abandoned and suffered vandalism.

&nbsp;In 1978, Orensanz renovated this elaborate landmark and created
his own foundation that today still carries his name. The Angel Orensanz
Foundation is home to displays and presentations for the visual and performing
arts. Today, the Foundation
acts as both Angel Orensanz’s studio and as a center for the arts, serving as a
magnificent venue for concerts, weddings, lectures, and community events. The Foundation provides an intimate
space to experience Angel’s work and an artistic and cultural resource for
artists, writers, thinkers, and members of the surrounding community.

Built in 1849, this former Jewish synagogue is the oldest surviving temple in New York City and the fourth oldest surviving in the country. It was built by Congregation Anshe Chesed, which formed in 1825. It ceased to exist in 1874 when it merged with another congregation. The building has been the Angel Orensanz Center, an art studio for its namesake and an art and cultural center for the city, since 1986. Orensanz is a Spanish-born sculptor and painter who arrived and bought the building that year. It had been abandoned since 1974 and was in bad shape after suffering years of vandalism. The center offers space for exhibitions for artists of all types and the building can be rented for events. A museum on the third and fourth floors displaying Orensanz's work is also located here.

Angel Orensanz Foundation

The building that would eventually become the Bialystoker
Synagogue was built in 1826 as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Not
much is known about the church’s original congregation. The Synagogue’s
congregation was formed in 1865 as the Chevrah Anshei Chesed of Bialystok.
Initially, the congregation met on Hester Street, where the congregation
remained for several years. Over the years, the congregation grew in size, and when
a group of immigrants came to the area in early 1905, it became clear that
there was not enough room for the congregation. In May of that same year, the
congregation purchased the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church building
and moved out of the smaller location.In order to purchase the
synagogue, the Bialystoker Synagogue had to take out substantial loans and a
mortgage, which it slowly began to pay off. In the meantime, the congregation
grew, and the synagogue prospered. A decision was made to remodel the interior
of the synagogue during the Great Depression in order to inspire the community.
Almost fifty years after the purchase of the building, the Bialystoker
Synagogue finally paid off their mortgage in May of 1953, and the congregation
celebrated with a ceremonial burning of the mortgage. On April 19, 1966, the
building was designated a New York City Landmark, and on April 26, 1972, it was
added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Bialystoker
Synagogue still has an active congregation.



&nbsp;

The Bialystoker Synagogue, located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is the oldest surviving building in New York City that is actively used as a synagogue. Originally, the building was constructed as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church in 1826, but in 1905, it was purchased for use as a synagogue. In April 1996, it was designated as a New York City Landmark, and in April 1972, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Bialystoker Synagogue congregation still gathers in this historic building.

Bialystoker Synagogue

In the 1880s, the Congregation Kahal Adath Jeshurun commissioned German architects Peter and Francis Herter to design and construct a synagogue for them. After purchasing the land needed for the synagogue, the building’s construction began on September 24, 1886, and on September 30th of 1887, it was completed and open for worship. The Herter brothers held nothing back when constructing the building, and this was apparent when the synagogue received a great deal of praise from its neighbors. The Eldridge Street Synagogue flourished in the following decades, and the congregation continued to grow steadily until the mid-1900s. In the 1950s, the synagogue began to structurally deteriorate, especially in the main sanctuary, and once it began to suffer from serious water damage, the main sanctuary was excised from use. Despite this, services continued elsewhere in the synagogue.In 1971, New York University Professor Gerald Wolfe visited the main sanctuary of the synagogue and decided to form the Friends of the Eldridge Street Synagogue foundation, which would serve to restore the Sanctuary to its former glory. After the founding of the organization, the synagogue was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 28, 1980, and was designated as a New York City Landmark on July 8, 1980. Restoration efforts would begin fifteen years after the founding of the Friends of the Eldridge Street Synagogue in 1971, and would continue until 2007 when the renovations were finally completed. During the time of the renovations, the synagogue was designated as a National Historic Landmark on June 19, 1996. The renovations culminated in the opening of the Museum at Eldridge Street in 2007, which displays exhibits about the history of American Jews.

The Eldridge Street Synagogue is a historic synagogue located in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan. Built in 1887, it is one of the first Eastern European Jewish Synagogues built in the United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March of 1980, designated as a New York City Landmark in July of 1980, and designated as a National Historic Landmark in June of 1996. After extensive renovations, the synagogue hosts the Museum at Eldridge Street, and the Kahal Adath Jeshurun congregation still meets in the synagogue for worship.

Eldridge Street Synagogue

Founded in 1654 by 23 members of mainly Spanish and Portuguese origin, Shearith Israel's congregation comprised all the Jewish people of Manhattan. Though the Chatham Square Cemetery is referred to as the First Cemetery, technically it is the second burial ground of the congregation. The first dated to 1656, and is described as "a little hook of land situated outside of this city for a
burial place" [1]. The location of this cemetery is unknown. The Chatham Square Cemetery property was purchased in 1682 by Joseph Bueno de Mesquita. The first interment was the burial of his relative, Benjamin Bueno de Mesquita, the following year. The site's position on a hill overlooking the East River made the cemetery a strategic location for the placement of guns during the American Revolution, first by American troops in March of 1776 and, when the British conquered New York, by their troops, who supposedly made bullets from several lead epitaph plates from the headstones. In 1823, the city passed an ordinance prohibiting burials below Canal Street. By that time,the Shearith Israel congregation already had a second burial ground at 76
West 11th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue, which was in use from 1805-1829. A few interments at the Chatham Square Cemetery continued until 1828, but over time, the size of the cemetery was reduced due to soil erosion and city expansion. Disinterment and reburial occurred several times. In 1855, the Bowery was expanded and a substantial portion of the cemetery overtaken by eminent domain. As a result, 256 burials were removed . An annual ceremony is held in Chatham Square Cemetery on the Sunday before Memorial Day in memory of the American Revolutionists buried on the grounds. Some of those whose graves are decorated with flags each year are Reverend
Gershom Mendes Seixas, Benjamin Mendes Seixas, Simon Nathan, Jonas Phillips,
Hayman Levy, and others; some still have descendants active in the Shearith Israel congregation.

From 1654 until 1825, Shearith Israel was the only Jewish congregation in New Amsterdam/New York City. The congregation's burial ground, known as Chatham Square Cemetery or First Cemetery of Shearith Israel, is the second oldest extant burial ground in Manhattan, dating to 1682.

Chatham Square Cemetery

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York’s contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The third largest Holocaust museum in the world, the Museum anchors the southernmost tip of Manhattan, completing the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Museum of Jewish Heritage

The Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) was founded in 1861 as a breakaway of&nbsp;Brooklyn’s first Jewish Congregation, the Congregation Baith Israel. This was a move by forty-one German Jewish congregants eager to implement more liberal modes of worship in line with their Central European roots. In their first permanent home on Pearl Street in Brooklyn Heights, the CBE implemented mixed gender worship and led services in both German and Hebrew. In keeping with their liberal tendencies, the CBE hired a young and innovative rabbi, Rabbi William Sparger, who introduced even more radical changes to the services. The congregation grew so dramatically and so quickly that it had to move to a larger worship space just down the road at the intersection of State and Hoyt.

The final decades of the nineteenth century saw few changes in the congregation despite an influx of Eastern European Jewish immigrants during “The Great Migration.” Congruent with their liberal policies, the CBE sought to Americanize their practices and integrate more seamlessly into a largely Christian, non-immigrant community, which meant resisting the influence of both&nbsp;Eastern European Orthodoxy and growing Zionist movements. The Rabbi George Taubenhaus even created an English language newspaper for the group as a means of presenting the CBE as a truly&nbsp;American, rather than&nbsp;immigrant, congregation.

The CBE remained consistent in&nbsp;its progressive policies during the early twentieth century. In 1902, the first American-born rabbi, Rabbi Alexander&nbsp;Lyons, took over leadership of CBE. In addition to being the first American to preside over the CBE, Rabbi Lyons was also the first to be formally trained at the Hebrew Union College, which would become a central institution in American Reform Judaism. Indeed, in 1911, under the leadership of Lyons, the CBE officially joined the Reform Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

The 1929 stock market crash and ensuing global depression proved a trying time for the CBE. The congregation was still deeply in debt from the 1909 construction of their Classic Revival* style&nbsp;Eighth Avenue&nbsp;Temple, and the&nbsp;pre-Crash, 1929&nbsp;ground-breaking on the adjacent Art Deco** style&nbsp;Temple House placed them on the verge of bankruptcy.&nbsp;However, despite decreased membership and battles with the bank, they sought to develop community programming, even opening&nbsp;an Academy of Adult Jewish Education.

Indeed, the social turbulence of the time provided a new mission for the congregation. Rabbi Lyons, in response to the rise of fascism and Nazi racist rhetoric, began championing interfaith and interracial alliances in the community. After the devastation of World War II and the Holocaust, the congregation followed the reformist movement in supporting Zionism and the creation of a Jewish state in Israel.

The&nbsp;"white flight" to the suburbs that&nbsp;characterized&nbsp;the 1960s precipitated a decline in membership that persisted into the early 1970s. The CBE hoped that the creation of a nursery school in combination with the Park Slope community’s Brownstone Revival project would help to attract Jewish families back to the neighborhood. The creation of the Park Slope Historic District&nbsp; (a New York City Landmark District) in 1973 and the 1980 addition of the CBE buildings to the National Register of Historic Places&nbsp;did&nbsp;help to&nbsp;revitalize the congregation.Over the past three decades, the CBE has experienced continued growth, even being named one of the&nbsp;twenty-five most vibrant Jewish congregations in America by Newsweek in 2009. It continues to be a cultural center not just of the Jewish community of Park Slope, but for a larger group of Brooklynites, frequently hosting book releases, concerts, and other neighborhood events. It was even the recipient of a&nbsp;2012 Preservation Grant from American Express and the National Trust, voted on by New York community members. The congregation has allocated those funds to help restore the building and repair a stained glass window.&nbsp; * The Classical Revival design can be found in the formal, symmetrical construction. It is&nbsp;especially evident in&nbsp;the columnns flanking the front entrance.&nbsp; ** The Art Deco features can be found in the very angular design of the building and the bas-relief work around the windows.

In 1909, the Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) dedicated this temple, also known as the Eighth Avenue Temple or the Garfield Temple, as the new home for their burgeoning congregation. Designed by the architecture firm of Simon Eisendrath and B. Horowitz, the CBE was constructed in the Classical Revival style. Twenty years later, in 1929, the congregation opened the Temple House directly across Garfield Street to provide a cultural center and home for their neighborhood congregants. The Temple House is in Art Deco style. 

Since moving to this address, the Congregation Beth Elohim has been a staple of the Park Slope neighborhood, continuing a longer history of engagement in the wider Brooklyn community. In 2012, CBE won a publicly voted competition for a $250,000 preservation grant from Partners in Preservation, a program organized by American Express and the National Trust.

Congregation Beth Elohim and Temple House

The Ocean Parkway Jewish Center is home to a congregation founded in 1907 as Tifereth Israel/First Congregation of Kensington. The formerly Conservative congregation now offers traditional orthodox services.

The Ocean Parkway Jewish Center was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. The three-story building, constructed between 1925 and 1926, was designed in the Neoclassical style. It was built when Brooklyn became one of the world's important centers of Jewish life. The building includes a sanctuary, ballroom, classrooms, and a social hall. The congregation traces its history back to the establishment of the Tifereth Israel Congregation in 1907. 

Ocean Parkway Jewish Center

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement was started in 1775 by Rabbi Shneur Zalman in the village of Lyady. The village was once part of the Russian Empire, but today, it sits on the border of Belarus. This subdivision of Hasidic Judaism spread rapidly throughout the Tsar’s Empire and neighboring lands. However, followers were persecuted harshly by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution&nbsp;and were fearful of the growth of the Nazis in Germany. Therefore, the movement – then led by their sixth Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn – moved to Poland, then to Latvia, and to New York in 1940. They chose a former doctor’s clinic in Brooklyn as their headquarters. This is the same building they use today.

At first, the synagogue was small and isolated. The congregation that met in the basement of the building at 770 consisted of very few members, due largely to the actions of the Nazis in Europe. In 1950, the sixth Rebbe was replaced by his son-in-law, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The seventh Rebbe encouraged outreach, unlike many other Hasidic movements, and he initiated the construction of Chabad centers – gathering places for Jewish communities - across the globe. Young families known as Shluchim managed these centers, encouraging dispersed or secular Jews to become involved in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. These centers are often exact replicas of, or closely resemble, the building at 770 Eastern Parkway; similar buildings are found in Israel, Canada, Italy, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Australia.&nbsp;

The synagogue on 770 Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights, Brooklyn may seem unassuming when judged on its outward appearance alone. However, the apparently plain neo-Gothic style building is the headquarters of the Congregation Lubavitch of Agudas Chasidei Chabad. Lubavitch Chassidim has grown from its isolationist tendencies at the beginning of the 20th century to become one of the most globally recognized and influential Jewish movements. This growth is largely due to the efforts of their Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), a man that many in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement believe to have been, or will yet become, the Jewish Messiah.

770 Eastern Parkway (Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters)

The museum is located in a building with 50,000 square feet plus a 10,500 square foot lower level that contains a theater and other activity spaces. It was the first of its kind and has had hundreds of thousands of visitors since it opened. Prior to the building of the museum, thousands of people attended years of the Jewish Children’s Expo. The event shared the history and values of the Jewish people. As demand increased, the idea for the museum was born.

The museum, which was funded in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, provided a permanent home that uses innovative multi-media technology to share the Jewish culture. It offers hands-on exhibits that focus on Jewish holidays, biblical history, the land of Israel, contemporary Jewish life and more. It houses an art gallery, state-of-the-art computer labs, a game show studio, a craft workshop and even a miniature golf course.

The museum offers a variety of rotating exhibitions and educational programming for children in an entertaining package. Its mission is, in part, to inspire an increased interest in Jewish culture. While it is catered to elementary-age children and strives to be an educational resource for Jewish themes, the Jewish Children’s Museum welcomes people of all faiths in the hopes of increasing awareness of Jewish heritage and fostering tolerance.

The largest Jewish-themed children’s museum in the United States is the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn. It showcases Jewish history and heritage in a hands-on, interactive environment. It is open to everyone. The museum opened in 2004 and has hosted numerous celebrity visitors. The museum is dedicated to the memory of Ari Halberstam, a teenager who was gunned down on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994 in the wake of Crown Heights race riots. His mother, Devorah, was instrumental in the creation of the museum to honor her son’s legacy and his love of his own heritage. The museum is dedicated to teaching tolerance to all children so that we can live in a peaceful society.

Jewish Children's Museum

Founded in 1838, the Shaare Zedek congregation initially met at 42 Water Street before moving to 472 Pearl Street. Two years later they bought a plot of land between Madison and 5th Avenues on 88th Street to be used as a graveyard. Additional land was acquired from the Ansche Chesed synagogue on Henry Street in 1849, where they built a school and a mikveh&nbsp;(bathhouse). 

In 1865, they purchased plots of land in Bayside, where they moved their cemetery. Some notable burials include Marcus Witmark, who founded the sheet music company of the same name, and Becky Ostrovsky, who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 – an event that led to tremendous changes in safe factory working conditions. First World War veteran and US Congressman Lester David Volk was also buried there, following his death in 1962. Many graves are quite impressive, including ten-foot high obelisks and urns.

The cemetery expanded during the 1880s due to a large growth in the Jewish population in the city. At that time, many Jews were emigrating from Russia and Europe, where anti-Jewish pogroms (violent rioting and sectarian treatment) were taking place. The Henry Street complex was expanded to a next-door building, and a second building was acquired in Harlem which became the main location of the Shaare Zedek from 1914 until 1921. In 1921, the congregation moved again, this time to its present day location on West 93rd Street.

Further improvements were made to the cemetery between 1905 and 1908, yet over the following decades, it became largely overgrown and the victim of vandalism. In 2012, the cemetery was renovated through the joint efforts of Pisciotta, the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, and the Community Association for Jewish At-Risk Cemeteries.

Established in the late 1840s, the Bayside Cemetery is one of New York City’s oldest burial grounds and closely associated with the city’s third-oldest synagogue, Shaare Zedek. Located between Liberty Avenue and Pitkin Avenue in Bayside, the cemetery contains the graves of around thirty-five thousand Jews, including many Civil War veterans and George Rosenshein, a victim of the Titanic.

Bayside Cemetery

During the early 1900s, many&nbsp;Ashkenazi Jews moved from various locations in and around New York City to Corona, which at that time had a relatively small Jewish population. The majority of the&nbsp;Congregation Tifereth Israel came from the Lower East Side, which by then was far exceeding its capacity. They were able to move easily to the Queens area due to the construction of the&nbsp;Flushing Railroad in 1853 and improved&nbsp;ferry connections between the 1870s and 1890s.&nbsp;By 1918, Queens boasted eighteen synagogues, two of which were in Corona, though only this one survives to the present day.&nbsp;Many members of the twenty-three thousand Jews living in Queens by 1919 operated theatres or&nbsp;worked at shirtwaist factories located along Corona Avenue. The Congregation Tifereth Israel was incorporated in 1911&nbsp;and purchased the plot of land at&nbsp;54th Avenue in April of that same year.&nbsp;They commissioned Crescent L. Varrone to design the synagogue, and construction started in August 1911. The two-story building was made of&nbsp;a lumber frame covered in clapboard, which has been renovated and replaced with a layer of stucco plaster.&nbsp;It features a&nbsp; tripartite façade with a raised central entrance, accessed via a double staircase.&nbsp;A roundel with the Star of David is located above the entrance.&nbsp;The façade displays Gothic a Moorish elements, such as rounded- and&nbsp;pointed-arch windows, and&nbsp;a decorative gabled parapet. Towers topped with rounded, onion-shaped peaks were also built on each corner, in contrast to the relatively modest design of the interior. The flat roof is pierced with a skylight. In addition to the synagogue, a mikveh (bathhouse) - which was once the residence of the rabbi -&nbsp;and a&nbsp;yeshiva (an institute for the study of the Torah and Talmud) were constructed, though the latter closed in the 1970s and was converted into accommodations for a music studio (once used by Madonna). A Jewish&nbsp;cemetery was also&nbsp;operated. Although the synagogue fell into a state of disrepair during the 1990s, the building continues to be used and cared for by the&nbsp;Ashkenazi Jewish congregation to this day and remains a vital part of their identity and heritage. Work began in 2014 to restore the building&nbsp;and modernize its electricity and heating systems, with plans to cover the exterior walls with wood in the future.

Located in Corona, Queens, the synagogue building of the Congregation Tifereth Israel was built in 1911 by Ashkenazi Jews. It is a remarkably rare surviving example of Gothic-Moorish revival architecture and remains both the oldest purpose-built synagogue building and oldest synagogue in continuous use in Queens. The building was added to the list of New York City Designated Landmarks in Queens in February 2008.

Congregation Tifereth Israel Synagogue

This cultural history museum was established in 1982 and offers 5,000 square feet of exhibits related to the history, culture, and art of Jewish communities in New York and beyond. The museum was established by Ralph and Leuba Braum, refugees of Nazi persecution, and in 2008, the museum was renamed in their honor.  

Derfner Judaica Museum

Congregation Adas Emuno formed in 1871 in Hoboken, where its original synagogue is still standing. Designed in the Gothic and Romanesque style, this building is now a residential building. The congregation follows the Reform tradition. Congregants first met at a location called the Odd Fellows Hall and remained there until 1874 when they moved to another location. Calls for a new synagogue were finally realized in 1883 when the Hoboken temple was built. The congregation moved to Leonia in 1974 and are located in a former church. The congregation is a vibrant community, offering religious schooling and classes for adults. Participation in social issues is also a major focus of the community. 

Congregation Adas Emuno

The idea for the museum originated from former Board President Joseph Selzer who visited the Jewish Museum of Florida (which was also housed in a synagogue) and recognized that Newark, which has the fourth largest Jewish population in the country, needed a museum as well.&nbsp; The congregation was established in 1905 and grew to become one the city's 50 Jewish congregations.

The Jewish Museum of New Jersey serves as an important center for Jewish cultural life in Newark. Founded in 2003 and opened in 2007, it is housed in the Ahava Shalom synagogue, the oldest continuously active synagogue in the city. The museum is the state's first centralized museum devoted to Jewish history. It features permanent, rotating and traveling exhibits that explore various topics of Jewish history including Jewish immigration to the state, the role New Jersey Jews played in the Civil Rights Movement, and the stories of local Holocaust survivors. The museum also offers inter-faith programming that promotes cultural understanding and tolerance. A highlight of the synagogue itself is its beautiful carved mahogany ark, which is the oldest in the state. The synagogue was built 1923 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Jewish Museum of New Jersey

Temple B'Nai's history dates back to 1853 when Jewish immigrants&nbsp;from Poland established a traditional congregation that met in a home. They eventually rented a hall and in 1855 bought land for a cemetery incorporated as Congregation of the Sons of Abraham-B'nai Abraham. After being located in a few places including two synagogues, one of which was lost to foreclosure, the congregation finally moved into the present building in 1924. In 1973, the congregation relocated on the city of Livingston and Deliverance Evangelistic Center moved in soon after.

Now home to the Deliverance Evangelistic Center, a non-denominational Pentecostal congregation, the former Temple B'Nai Abraham is the largest Jewish synagogue in New Jersey and second oldest in Newark. Designed by architect Nathan Myers in the Neo-Classical style, it was built in 1924 and has a seating capacity of 2,000. It features many stained-glass windows, including ones that form a dome in the shape of the Star of David, and five Ionic columnns, among other Neo-Classical elements. The Temple is also notable for its association with one of its rabbis, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who was a nationally-known activist during the Civil Rights Movement and a friend of Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke at the temple several times (Prinz gave the speech before King's "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington D.C.). The temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Jewish Heritage Trail of New York City

Congregation Shearith Israel

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information