New York City is for the Jewish
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By Robyn Haberman
I am a New Yorker. And I am one of about a million Jewish people who live in this incredible city. I would argue that it is essentially the Jewish mecca of the United States, along with Florida in the winter, when we migrate south like birds.
Many people would agree. Ask almost any Jew where they feel most at home outside of Israel, and nine times out of ten, the answer will be New York City. NYC is far more than just a place where Jewish people live. It has been an epicenter of Jewish culture for generations. Our traditions, food, and faith have shaped the city just as much as pizza slices and pretzel carts.
So when you come and visit me from out of town, we can certainly swing by the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sure, we can catch a Broadway show. But for my Jewish friends and family who want to dive deeper into our heritage and its impact, I have the perfect off-the-beaten-path itinerary.
If you want to understand why I consider my city the center of the Jewish universe in the United States, start here.
Battery Park
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Founded in 1997, the Museum of Jewish Heritage serves as New York’s Holocaust memorial and one of its most powerful cultural institutions. Its mission is to educate visitors from around the world about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust.
Through artifacts, immersive displays, photographs, and survivor testimonies, the museum presents a deeply moving narrative that confronts history while emphasizing resilience and continuity. The permanent exhibition, The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do, is especially powerful, offering context and humanity to events that can otherwise feel overwhelming.
What to see includes rotating exhibitions, personal artifact collections, and interactive displays. On Thursday evenings, the museum of ten offers free admission, making it an ideal stop for visitors.
36 Battery Place, New York, NY 10280, mjhnyc.org
Lower East Side
Tenement Museum
The Tenement Museum does not just tell the story of immigrant families. It places you directly inside it. Located in preserved tenement buildings, the museum brings to life the experiences of Jew ish, Irish, German, Italian, and other immigrant families who helped build New York City. Guided tours take you through apartments where Jewish families once lived, worked, and raised families. You will learn the everyday realities of immigrant life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Recommended tours include Tenement Women 1902, Meet Victoria, and Finding Home, all of which offer meaningful Jewish context. If you want to get in a few extra steps, you can also join one of their neighborhood walking tours.
103 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002, tenement.org
Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery
Founded in 1910 by a Romanian Jewish immigrant, Yonah Schim mel’s is a Lower East Side institution. What began as a humble pushcart evolved into one of the city’s most beloved Jewish food landmarks.
The knishes here are legendary. Potato is the classic choice, but you can also find kashka, red cabbage, broccoli, and even sweet varieties. Over the years, everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Woody Allen has stopped in for a nosh.
Order a knish, pair it with a classic New York egg cream or cherry lime rickey, and take a moment to soak in the atmosphere. It feels like stepping back into another era.
137 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002, knishery.com
Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue
Romaniote Jews are a unique community of Jewish people whose history in Greece dates back more than two thousand years to the time Alexander the Great. Their history goes back long be fore the arrival of Sephardic Jews following the Spanish Expulsion in 1492.
The congregation opened its doors to worship in 1927 and remains a living testament to its unique traditions, customs, liturgy and language. In addition to serving as a house of worship, it also contains a museum dedicated to Greek Jewish life.
Visitors can attend Shab bat services with songs and prayers that are exclusive to the Romaniote rite, explore the museum, or attend cultural programs, lectures, and concerts. If you visit in May, you can even participate in their Greek Jewish Festival!
280 Broome Street, New York, NY 10002, kkjsm.org
http://manischewitz.com/foodtruck
Catch It If You Can
Manischewitz Food Truck
If you are lucky enough to track it down, the Manischewitz food truck delivers classic Jewish comfort food straight to the street. With signature classics, it lives up to its moniker as a “deli on wheels.”
Schedules vary by season, so be sure to check them out on social media for where and when they’ll be hitting a nearby corner.
Track down the truck and order a matzah ball soup, a hot dog, or rugelach. When this mobile spot pops up, it’s like a mini holiday feast that brightens up the day.
Location: Varies, manischewitz.com/foodtruck/
Now that we’ve had a snack, let’s start making our way uptown!
Upper West Side
Old Broadway Synagogue
The Chevra Talmud Torah Anshei Marovi was founded in 1911 by Polish Jewish immigrants. Originally meeting in storefronts and in the back of a bar, they finally built their own synagogue in 1923 in Harlem’s Manhattanville. The Old Broadway Synagogue, completed in 1923, is a rare example of Gothic Revival synagogue architecture and stands as a testament to the vibrant Jewish life that thrived in West Harlem through the 1940s. It is listed on State and National Registers of Historic Places.
Visitors can attend services or community events and take in the serene beauty of the sanctuary.
15 Old Broadway, New York, NY 10027,
oldbroadwaysynagogue.blogspot.com
Zabar’s
OK, I’ll admit it. Zabar’s is not exactly “off the beaten path,” but no Jewish visit to New York feels complete without it (Popular for a reason!). Since 1934, this Upper West Side institution has been synonymous with Jew ish food culture. Famous for smoked fish, bagels, babka and specialty food, everything here feels iconic.
Hot panini? Homemade chicken noodle soup? Everything bagel with lox? Honestly, you can’t go wrong. And if your mouth is watering now and you just can’t wait, they happen to have a thriving online store, so you can have the New York deli experience shipped right to your door.
2245 Broadway, New York, NY 10024, Zabars.com
Day Trips Beyond Manhattan
Jewish people go beyond Manhattan, and you can too! Try these sites if you feel like getting off the island.
Coney Island
I grew up visiting my grandmother in Brighton Beach every Sunday, so this one is a favorite. Pick a sunny day to head out to Brooklyn for the beach and boardwalk, and you’ll enter yet another chapter of New York’s Jewish culture. Coney Island has long served as a residential hub for Jewish immigrants, particularly Yiddish-speaking families from the Lower East Side.
It is also home to the historic Coney Island Cyclone, an iconic roller coaster in operation since 1927. Don’t skip the famed Ferris wheel and grab a hot dog and fries at the original Nathan’s Famous on the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues.
Snag a bonus cultural experience with a walk or an Uber to Little Odessa, where authentic Russian and Ukrainian cuisine and specialty markets thrive.
Brooklyn, NY, Getting there: Subway or bus
Monsey, New York
Did you know that New York is so much more than New York City? There are farms and cows, mountains, pristine forests, and stunning lakes as you travel north to the Canadian border! But we won’t go quite that far.
About an hour north of Manhattan, Monsey offers a glimpse into the vibrant center of Orthodox Jewish life. Spend a day exploring Judaica stores like Tuvia’s and choose from a wide array of kosher restaurants – you can even get kosher sushi at KYO! Take in a meditative moment in the Viznitz Cemetery or visit one of more than 100 synagogues in the area.
This is a truly immersive walk through Orthodox Jewish life.
Getting there: Train from Penn Station or a one-hour drive
Travel Like a Local
New York City’s public transportation system can take you pretty much anywhere you want to go, but a good pair of walking shoes is definitely a girl’s best friend! Be sure to leave room in your belly (if you can) for dessert at any of Manhattan’s divine bakeries, and leave room in your luggage for all your shopping finds!
Whether you come for the history, the food, the spirituality, or the feeling of belonging, New York City offers a Jewish experience unlike anywhere else in the world.
