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Bring Your School Group to Visit the Eldridge Street Synagogue
 
About School Tours of the Eldridge Street Synagogue

Step into history. Bring your class to the Museum at Eldridge Street and experience the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark. Explore immigration, Jewish life, art and architecture in an interactive and engaging format. Offerings include tours and workshops at the Museum and walking tours of our Lower East Side. All programs are led by experienced educators and support National and New York State Learning Standards. Programs are customized for students of all ages and abilities.

For more information, email Miriam Bader or call 212.219.0302x2.

Museum Tours
Available: Sunday - Thursday: 10am to 5pm
Duration: 75 minutes
Fee: $6 per person. Subsidies are available upon request.

Architecture
What do buildings tell us about a community's values and history?
Learn how to uncover a building's story through its design. Students examine the majestic architecture of the Eldridge Street Synagogue and investigate its paint patterns, stained glass windows, and Victorian lighting. As students explore this century-old landmark, they gain a basic architectural vocabulary and the tools to discover history wherever they look.

Immigration
How do you pack your life in a suitcase?
Visit the 19th century Lower East Side through a high-tech interactive exhibit and delve into the Eastern European immigrant experience. This exploration of the Eldridge Street Synagogue uses the particular story of its immigrant founders to highlight the challenges and opportunities that all immigrants face when bringing traditions to a new place.

Celebrate with Us! Jewish Holidays
How are Jewish holidays celebrated?
During this multi-sensory program, students act, sing, and munch their way through history to cultural understanding. Special programs focusing on Hanukah and Passover highlight and rejoice in America’s cultural diversity. Programs are designed for students of all ages and backgrounds. No knowledge of Jewish culture is necessary.

Ways We Worship
What are the core traditions of the Jewish religion?
Learn about Jewish practice in situ. Explore the Eldridge Street Synagogue and handle ritual objects as you discover the traditions and history of the Jewish people. This program is ideal for students studying comparative religions and draws out the similarities between diverse world faiths.

Turn-of-the-Century Bar Mitzvah
What does it mean to be a Bar Mitzvah? Examine how Jewish immigrants marked their coming-of-age. Hear popular speeches and oral histories highlighting how immigrant children balanced the traditions of their parents and grandparents with American sensibilities. Geared to bar- and bat-mitzvah age students, this program helps teens to incorporate this rich historical perspective into their own ceremony.

Accessibility
The Museum is Wheelchair Accessible All public areas of the Museum at Eldridge Street are wheelchair accessible.

Tours & Workshops
Available: Sunday - Thursday: 10am to 5pm
Duration: 2 hours
Fee: $10 per person. Subsidies are available upon request.

Illuminating Glass
What does a window reveal?
Celebrate Eldridge Street’s new rose window designed by artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans. Experience its brilliance, along with 67 other spectacular windows illuminating our National Historic Landmark. Through looking, sketching and activities, students explore window design and preservation. Inspired by their learning, they then create their own rose window in an arts workshop.

Torah Treasury
What does an artifact communicate?
Explore treasures of the Torah from the Museum’s collection and get a deeper understanding of this most sacred object. Handle historic artifacts and discover the history within their symbols, language and textures. Following this exploration, students design unique Torah covers and practice Hebrew calligraphy in an arts workshop.

Neighborhood Tours
Available: Sunday - Thursday: 10am to 5pm
Duration: 90 minutes
Fee: $6 per child (ages 5-18). Subsidies are available upon request.

Lower East Side Walking Tour
Discover the history of the Lower East Side gateway neighborhood. Walk the streets and learn to “read” landmarks while investigating the social, political and cultural past. Tour routes are custom-designed and can include: Seward Park and Library, Jarmulowsky's Bank, Jewish Daily Forward Building, Educational Alliance, PS 42, tenement buildings and pickle vendors.


Multi-Visit Programs
Please contact us about multi-visit programs, including a series of programs in the Museum, around the Lower East Side, and in your classroom. Our education staff welcomes the opportunity to plan special programs to support and enhance your classroom learning.
 
 
Reservation Form
Please complete this reservation form so that we can schedule your visit. Submitting this form is not a confirmation of your reservation. Upon receipt of the application, we will contact you to either confirm or reschedule your tour.

* -- Required field.

1. School Information
School Name: *

Type of School: *

Address: *

Address 2:

City: *

State: *

Zip code: *

Country: (if other than the United States)

Teacher's Name: *

Teacher's Email: *

School phone number (No spaces or dashes, please.): *

Teacher's cell number (For day of trip communication. No spaces or dashes, please.): *

Organizer's name (if different from teacher):

Best time of the day to reach you: *


2. Group Information
Number of Students: *

Number of chaperones *
(we require at least 1 chaperone/per 10 students):

Grade of students: *

Type of transportation expected: *


3. Tour Selection *
Please select the program(s) that are of interest. We will customize a program to best support your curricular needs.

Architecture

Immigration

Celebrate With Us! Jewish Holidays

Ways We Worship

Turn-of-the-Century Bar Mitzvah

Lower East Side Walking Tour


4. Scheduling
Tours last 75 minutes and can take place Sundays to Thursday between the hours of 10am & 4pm. All tours must be booked at least 3 weeks in advance.

Please select 2 potential dates & times for your visit:

First Choice: *
Date (tours offered Sun - Thurs):


Time:

Second Choice:
Date (tours offered Sun - Thurs):


Time:


5. Additional Information
Kindly answer the following questions, so that we can best support your students during their visit: What are you studying in the classroom:

What are your goals for the visit?

Please share anything else about your group that will help us plan for your visit, including special needs, interests, aptitudes or any other relevant information.

How did you hear about the Museum at Eldridge Street? Please check all that apply:

Previous visit
Museum website
Other website
Magazine/Newspaper
Radio/Television
Email
Brochure
Previous Visit
Word of mouth
Other – please detail:


6. Submit Request
Submitting a request for a particular date and time is not a confirmation of your reservation. Upon receipt of the application, a Visitor Services representative will contact you to either confirm or reschedule your tour.