Education at the Museum at Eldridge Street

The Museum at Eldridge Street offers a wide variety of educational programs and opportunities to people of every age, religion and background. These programs strive to teach children and adults what Jewish life in America was like in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially for new immigrants to the United States.

Immigration

The museum offers a look at life in the Lower East Side during the 19th century with an interactive high-tech exhibit that shows how the Eastern European Jewish immigrants, who founded the Eldridge Street Synagogue, faced the same challenges and opportunities that all immigrants face in a new home. In addition, the Lower East Side walking tour offers a look at the landmarks that reveal the social, political and cultural history of the district, including a look at an authentic turn of the century tenement.

Jewish traditions and rituals

Visitors to the museum can see an exhibit that displays ritual objects, shows their relevance to Jewish worship and compares them to those of other world religions. Another exhibit is a multi-sensory celebration of Jewish holidays that involves singing, acting, dancing and eating that Jews and gentiles of all ages and backgrounds are sure to appreciate, regardless of how much they already know about Jewish culture. Another exhibit has an oral history of how immigrants balanced their parents’ traditions with their newfound American identity; geared towards students approaching their bar- and bat-mitzvahs, they can use it as a resource to give context and perspective to their own coming of age.

The museum is open Sunday through Thursday from 10 AM to 5 PM; each tour lasts 75 minutes and costs a $6 admission fee per person. These exhibits illuminate the challenges that Jews faced during the turn of the 20th century and allow visitors to walk in another person’s shoes.