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Family Event Celebrating Jewish American History Month | May 19
Dear Friends and Families,
In celebration of Jewish American History Month in May and our amazing Jewish Affinity Group community, we have organized a family event (all ages invited) at the Tenement museum on Sunday 5/19 starting at 4 PM, followed by food, drink and bonding at the Essex Street Market down the street.
The museum has offered us three different tours to choose from—please read descriptions below and let us know what you are interested in via this Google form. (We know the 4th grade class has a field trip scheduled for May as well, but we will make sure those students / families do not have duplicate tours.) Cost will be $25 per person, to be paid directly to the Tenement Museum on the day of the tour. You can also join for just the Essex Street Market Bonding experience at 5:30 PM.
See tour info below and don’t forget to fill out the Google form. We are really excited about this event and hope many of you will join!
Please let me know if you have any questions. The sooner we can identify the times/tours, the better!
Jenn and Daniel
Jenn and Daniel
Group 1 & 2 - 4:00-5:30 PM - this has a capacity for up to 30
Meet Victoria (90 minutes) Both Groups will start/end at the same time
Visit our historic 97 Orchard Street tenement and journey back in time to 1916 for an immersive experience with an actor playing Victoria Confino, a Sephardic Jewish teenager who immigrated to the United States in 1913. You’ll meet Victoria in her family’s recreated tenement apartment and get to ask Victoria questions and hear stories about her home in Greece, her journey to the United States, and her experiences as an immigrant in the Lower East Side of 1916. Recommended for visitors of all ages!
Group 3 & 4 - 4:00-5:00 PM - this has a capacity for up to 30
Tenement Women (60 minutes) Both Groups will start/end at the same time
*This tour includes an outdoor portion
This apartment tour takes you into the world of tenement families to explore the challenges and changes faced by Jewish immigrant women in 1902. You’ll explore how the Museum’s tenement buildings help us discover hidden stories, learn about a kosher butcher store run by the Lustgartrn family, and visit the Levine family’s tenement apartment, where Jennie Levine managed a household and oversaw family finances while her husband ran a garment factory in their living room. This tour will also explore the wider community of the Jewish Lower East Side, the most crowded area in the nation, to see how women fought for change before they had rights as citizens, and how they inspired future generations and movements.
Group 4a - 4:15-5:15 PM - this has a capacity of 15
Finding Home (60 minutes) - Capacity 15 / Group 1
A private tour with an Educator will take you into the homes of the Epstein and Saez Velez families in the 1950s and 1960s. The families shared a tenement building at 103 Orchard Street and shared a changing Lower East Side yet had very different experiences as Jewish Holocaust survivors and Puerto Rican migrants. What was it like to live in a neighborhood becoming more racially and culturally diverse and how did newly arrived families find a sense of belonging? Explore these questions through the memories of the families and the historical context of the mid-20th century.
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Friends Seminary — the oldest continuously operated, coeducational school in NYC — serves college-bound day students in Kindergarten-Grade 12.
