Speaker: Barry Judelman

The cost of this walking tour is being underwritten by the JGSNY for its members. Attendance will be limited to the first 30 members who register. Those members interested in attending should send an email to program@jgsny.org. We will keep a waiting list; if any of the initial 30 registrants are unable to attend, we ask them to notify us in advance so that we can inform individuals on the waiting list of any openings.

Join Barry Judelman as he leads us on a walk by the former sites of Jewish religious life in the remarkable urban settlement of Harlem, which from 1870 to 1930, was the third largest Jewish community in the world, after New York's Lower East Side and Warsaw, Poland.

View important landmarks and hear about legendary people of this often-forgotten segment of Jewish history, starting with its origins as a community for the very rich and covering its glory days as a major center of Jewish life in New York. Learn about Harlem's legendary Jewish institutions - many of which transformed the Judaism of today's world - and discuss sites such as Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein's trendsetting Institutional Synagogue (affectionately known as the "shul with the pool"); the magnificent Temple Israel designed by noted Jewish architect Arnold Brunner; the Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Synagogue; Ohab Zedek, the synagogue of the world-famous cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, considered the uncrowned king of cantorial music; and Ansche Chesed, one of the oldest congregations in the United States.

Also included will be Mount Morris Park, the elegant square originally designed by world-renowned landscape architects Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted. Among the numerous noted residents who lived near the park were songwriter Richard Rodgers, actress Gertrude Berg, noted for her radio role as Molly Goldberg, and Lena Himmelstein Bryant, the founder of the successful clothing enterprise "Lane Bryant."

BIO:

Barry is the founder and principal of NY Jewish Tours, which offers customized guided walking tours of historic Jewish neighborhoods of New York city, including the Lower East Side, the Upper East and Upper West Side, Harlem and Brooklyn. Prior to that he spent 10 years in senior executive positions with national and international Jewish philanthropies, including the United Jewish Appeal, World ORT, The Jewish Agency for Israel, and the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation.  

Barry is a passionate and active advocate of supporting and sustaining historic Jewish institutions and sites throughout New York City. He volunteers regularly with the Municipal Arts Society of New York and the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy. Originally from South Africa, Barry is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has a master’s degree in Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University.