best, the most unexpected, the most
unique Jewish sights and experiences
that reflect our past, present and
future.
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NORTHEAST:
New York, Boston, Newport
No other city reflects the Jewish suc-
cess story in America better than New
York. Writer-humorist Harry Golden
labeled it the greatest Jewish city in
the world.
Two million Jews reside in
New York City and its sub-
urbs, making it the largest
concentration of Jews outside
of Israel. It is also one of the
oldest Jewish communities
in the Americas.
Jews have been immi-
grating to New York since
1654 when 23
Portuguese Jews, sailing
from Brazil, were
hijacked by a group of
Spanish pirates, then
handed over to a French ship, and
finally deposited with Peter
Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor of
Niew Amsterdam. He wasn't too
happy about the whole transaction.
Our picks uptown include:
Shearith Israel, also known as the
Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue. It was
founded by those 23 original Jewish
settlers. It has been in its present loca-
tion since 1897 at 8 West 70th St.
Note the Tiffany windows in the small
chapel and its camouflaged Havdala
set and candlesticks that date back to
the time of the Spanish Inquisition.
The Jewish Museum, on 92nd and
Fifth Avenue, three blocks west of the
92nd Street YMHA, has the largest
collection of Jewish art, antiquities
and cultural exhibits of any museum
outside of Israel. The elegant quarters,
once the mansion of German-Jewish
investor Felix Warburg, feature special
exhibits that range from "The Circle
of Montparnasse: Jewish Artists in
Paris," to "Jews in India" in addition
to a variety of permanent collections.
For hours and admission information,
call (212) 423-3200.
Experience the hippest, most active
locale for Jewish travelers to the Big.
Apple. It is not uptown but down-
town: the Lower East Side. Once the
epicenter of Jewish immigration at the
turn of the century, the area is in the
midst of regentrification and many
important bits of Jewish life and cul-
ture are being restored.
Begin your tour at the Statue of
Liberty and the Museum of
Immigration, located at Ellis Island.
Ferry boats leave regularly from
Battery Park.
The Lower East Side Tenement
Museum, on Orchard and Broome
Street, consists of three original apart-
ments and walking tours of the neigh-
borhood. It is less than a 10-minute
walk. Tuesday-Friday tours are 1-4
p.m.; also available, tours Thursday
evenings, Saturdays and Sundays, 11
a.m.-4 p.m.; $8 adults; $6 children.
For information, call (212) 431-0233.
A few blocks west of Orchard is the
Eldridge Street Project, located at 12
Eldridge, between Canal and Division.
This synagogue is the first in the
United States built by Eastern
European Jews, in 1887, and the first
built as a grand house of worship and
a symbol of success. Abandoned for
many years, it was rediscovered in the
1970s and is still being restored. It
features a stained glass rose window
and Moorish, Romanesque and
Gothic design features.
Keeping walking. One block north
of Broome Street is Delancey Street,
the site of world-reknowned Ratner's
Kosher Dairy Restaurant, but some-
thing new has been added. The
Lansky Lounge is open every night
but Fridays, for music and cocktails.
A few blocks away, on Essex
between Grant and Hester Street, is
Gus's Pickles. For the real article,
Gus's has a vast selection right out of
the vats.
Tonic, a bit further north and east,
at 107 Norfolk St., was once the loca-
tion of Kedem kosher winery, but now
functions as a trendy cafe and hair
.
salon featuring klezmer music on
Sunday afternoons. The phone num-
ber is (212) 358-7501.
Corned beef locator: almost any-
where. Hot knishes and bagels are
standard street food on most
Manhattan street corners.
Boston, with the sixth largest
Jewish population in the United
States, is a city of universities. Of
175,000 Jews in greater Boston, about
40,000 are college students attending
54 colleges and universities in the
area.
A visit to the Jewish Historical
Society, located on the 250-acre cam-
pus of Brandeis University in subur-
ban Waltham, gives the Jewish traveler
two sights on one trip. Yiddish theater
posters are on display in the main
room at the Historical Society, along
with vintage photographs. There are
special exhibits and a permanent col-
lection that includes the archival
papers of the American Jewish
Congress and the collected
papers of Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise and actress Molly
Picon.
Corned beef locator:
Brookline, especially
along Harvard Street.
About 75 miles from
Boston, Newport, Rhode Island's
Touro Synagogue is our last pick
along the Northeast coast. It is strik-
ing, - in spartan New England simplici-
ty, especially amid the oversized sum-
mer "cottages" of the American first
families of Vanderbilt, Morgan and
Rockefeller that sit jammed next to
each other along the shoreline.
Touro is the oldest synagogue in
the U.S., dedicated in 1763. Tour
guides point out the Windsor chairs
used by dignitaries visiting the congre-
gation; ordinary congregants sat on
benches. A trap door hidden under
the bima is an unexplained mystery: It
might have been to protect worship-
ping Jews from Indians or it might
have been a reminder of more perilous
times.
On display is the oft-quoted, hand
written letter from George
Washington after he attended services
there, declaring that "the government
of the United States gives to bigotry
no sanction ..."
Newport's Jewish community is
small and this Orthodox synagogue is
not open all the time; there are daily
(except Sunday) services during the
summer. Tours are available, but need
to be arranged. For information, call
the Newport Jewish Community
Center, (401) 847-4794.
Corned beef locator: return to
Boston.
MIDDLE ATLANTIC:
Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore
For Jews in colonial America,
Philadelphia has lived up to its label as
the city of brotherly love.
There is an apocryphal story that
Ben. Franklin organized three lotteries
to raise money for the construction of
Christ Church. Members of Mikveh
Israel, Philadelphia's first Jewish con-
gregation, bought tickets. After the
Revolutionary War, Mikveh Israel fell
on hard times and could not pay its
mortgage. Franklin and the parish-
ioners of Christ Church returned the
favor. They held a lottery to raise the
necessary money for Mikveh Israel, a
sum of 800 pounds.
Mikveh Israel has moved several
times over the years, but it is now locat-
ed at one end of Independence Mall, a
short walk from Independence Hall and
the Liberty Bell. There is a
museum of Jewish artifacts
adjacent to it.
Just a short walk away is
Center City, an area of
restored colonial townhouses.
Between Front and Second is
Elfreth's Alley, the oldest Colonial
street in the city and one of the oldest
continuously occupied streets in the
U.S. Moses Mordecai, a Jewish mer-
chant who signed the non-importa-
don resolutions in 1765, lived at 118
Elfreth.
For architecture fans, Beth Sholom
7/9
1999
Detroit Jewish News
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