We start our talk discussing the early settlements of Williamsburg, Brooklyn with its high Victorian Gothic temple on Keap Street. See the NYC Marathon as it runs through this present-day Hasidic neighborhood and view the largest synagogue designed for the Satmar Hasidim with a seating capacity of over 10,000! We will also discuss the old Abraham & Straus Department Store on Fulton Street as well as Eastern District High School and some of its famous graduates including Barry Manilow and Mel Brooks.
We talk about the Brooklyn Jewish Center in Crown Heights, Temple Beth El in Borough Park, and life in Brownsville and East New York, known as the “Jerusalem of America,” with its over 100 synagogues. We continue down to Coney Island and discuss the works of Jewish carpenters who designed synagogues back in Europe but had to rethink their work skills in the New World. They became the craftsmen who designed the glorious carousels in Prospect Park and Central Park.
The next borough covered will be Queens, which was originally settled by Jewish dairy farmers in Maspeth. There are grand synagogue Arks designed by Arthur Szyk in Forest Hills and Chaim Gross at JFK Airport. We will share photographs of the dazzling stained-glass windows of the old Laurelton Jewish Center depicting Jewish holidays.
Our last borough will be Staten Island, which was first settled in the mid-1850s. There are remnants of the original synagogues near the Ferry Terminal. We stop off at the Mt. Richmond Jewish Cemetery near Historic Richmondtown, which contains 22 graves of young Jewish men and women who perished in the Triangle Fire. Our last stop on this grand tour is the southernmost village in New York State and New York City, Tottenville.
This is a one-hour zoom program and is followed by a question and answer period.
Our presenter is Oscar Israelowitz, who was born in Brussels, Belgium. He is an architect, licensed NYC tour guide and author of over 75 books, and has given private tours for Leon Uris, the author of “Exodus.” In addition, he has exhibited his photographs at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and has been serving the New York metropolitan community since 1973.
United States Events , New York Events , Things To Do In New York, NY, New York Tours , New York Community Tours
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