Bialystoker the Beautiful, Shteibl Row and Historic East Broadway

 
 

Tour the magnificent Bialystoker Synagogue, built in 1826 as a Methodist Church, and believed to be a stop on the Underground Railroad. Marvel at this synagogue, resplendent in marvelous murals showcasing Tiffany inspired stained glass windows. See its ceiling covered with rare, hand-painted and treasured mazales - 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 mazales) were destroyed by Nazi forces.

Walk historic East Broadway.

On this tour, you will visit the spectacularly colorful Bialystoker Synagogue, listed in 2016 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as 1 of 10 of America’s Most Inspiring and Unique Synagogues. See where immigrants went to shul, and how a new generation is carrying on these traditions.

  • This magnificently renovated site is now the largest active congregation on the Lower East Side.

  • Discuss Beth Hamedrash Hagadol – once home to the first and largest Russian Jewish Orthodox congregation in the United States, as well as the only Chief Rabbi of America.

  • Walk the streets of Historic East Broadway. Sites to be viewed include: The Educational Alliance, Henry Street Settlement, The Forward Building, Seward Park, Straus Square and more.

Lori Weissman