13 Jewish sites to visit at Open House New York Weekend

October is well underway, which means that it’s nearly time for Open House New York Weekend, a yearly event that gives New Yorkers access to hundreds of notable, little-known or usually inaccessible locations throughout the five boroughs.

This year, during the 22nd annual Open House New York Weekend, more than 270 spots across the city will be open to the public at various times between Friday, Oct. 18 and Sunday, Oct. 20. The jam-packed lineup includes everything from artists studios to nature walks to behind-the-scenes tours at construction sites. 

Of course, in a city with 370 years of Jewish history — and that boasts some 1 million Jewish residents today — it should come as no surprise that a number of Jewish sites are also participating in the festival, which aims to explore “why the city looks, feels, and functions the way it does,” according to the Open House New York website.

From historic synagogues to Jewish-owned businesses to rarely open-to-the public museums, keep reading for our guide to 13 Jewish sites that can (and should!) be visited during Open House New York Weekend. 

164 Cook St., Brooklyn

Jewish artist and designer Allison Eden has been manufacturing creative custom tiles in New York City for more than 30 years. Known as the “Lady Gaga of the tile world,” Eden has designed countless colorful tile mosaics for commercial and residential clients, and has also created Star of David pendants as well as a Star of David mosaic for a fundraiser for the Soroka Medical Center in Southern Israel. Eden’s Bushwick, Brooklyn studio “also serves as a kind of glass mosaic museum featuring the pop art culture of the city’s past and present,” according to Open House New York. 

The studio will be open to the public on Sunday, Oct. 20 from 12 p.m. to 4 pm.

23 Marcus Garvey Blvd., Brooklyn

Located in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the Brooklyn Peace Center —  an organization that aims to be  “a catalyst for peacebuilding and conflict transformation in Brooklyn and beyond” — was originally constructed in 1891 as the First Austro-Hungarian Congregation Beth Shalom. During the tour, visitors will be able to explore the entire space, including the Peace Cafe, a “social enterprise coffee shop.” 

Ongoing tours will be available on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

474 Hemlock St., Brooklyn

Attention, lovers of Jewish champagne! The Brooklyn Seltzer Museum is also home to the Brooklyn Seltzer Boys, the last remaining seltzer factory in New York City. The museum tells the 2,500-year-old history of seltzer, from the first mentions of carbonated water in Ancient Greece through the mass production of seltzer today, while also exploring seltzer’s significance in New York City and its Jewish community.

Tours available Sunday, Oct. 20 from 12 p.m to 3 p.m.

Battery Place and State St.

Head all the way downtown to the Battery for a special tour of Castle Garden Emigrant Depot, the country’s first immigrant processing center. “Using long-forgotten images and stories from the building’s history, National Park Service Rangers will bring the facility back to life,” according to OHNY. In use from 1855 through 1890, before the opening of Ellis Island, Castle Garden welcomed some 8 million new Americans, including, toward the end of its era, many Jewish immigrants from the Pale of Settlement. 

Tours are available Saturday, Oct. 19 and Sunday, Oct. 20 at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.

652 Lexington Ave., Manhattan

Under the leadership of Senior Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Central Synagogue is home to a robust Reform Jewish congregation in Midtown East. The beautiful, imposing Moorish Revival building at the corner of East 55th Street is a New York City landmark: Built in 1872, it was designed by architect Henry Fernbach as a tribute to Budapest’s Dohány Street Synagogue. 

The synagogue will be open on Sunday, Oct. 20 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. for “personal meditation” and short tours on an ongoing basis.

5901 Palisade Ave., Bronx

Located inside Riverdale’s Hebrew Home for the Aged, and featuring breathtaking views of the Hudson River and the Palisades beyond, the Derfner Judaica Museum spotlights fine art and Jewish ceremonial objects. Currently on view is “Artfully Arranged,” an exhibition of 24 works by modern artists “who use flowers and floral forms to explore the intersection of the natural and urban worlds.”

Open Sunday, Oct. 20 from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a guided tour at 1:30 p.m. ID required. 

 265 Henry St., Manhattan

Founded by Jewish nurse and public health activist Lillian Wald in 1893, the Lower East Side’s Henry Street Settlement provided education, healthcare, and vocational training for Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side. Today, the organization continues its mission by providing social services, healthcare and arts programs to New Yorkers of all stripes. Guided tours during OHNY promise to take a “deep dive” into Wald’s world and accomplishments, including advocating for a school lunch program and the construction of the first municipally-built public playground, Seward Park. 

Ticketed tours are available on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. 

280 Broome St., Manhattan

On Sunday, Oct. 20, don’t miss your chance to pay a visit to the only Greek Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. During guided tours by synagogue members throughout the afternoon, participants will learn about the 2,000-year history of Romaniote Jews and will have the chance to “marvel at this nearly 100-year-old active synagogue building that was restored to its original beauty from 1927.” Also on site is a museum that spotlights the history of Greek Jews.

Ongoing guided tours will be available Sunday, Oct. 20 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

250 Bedford Park Blvd. West, Bronx

CUNY’s Lehman College boasts not one but two buildings designed by legendary Modernist architect and designer Marcel Breuer, who was born to a Jewish family in Hungary in 1902. The campus is home to two of Breuer’s first completed works in New York City: Shuster Hall, which is “clad with a distinctive, gridded terra cotta flue screen,” and “the glassy, low-slung” Fine Arts Building.  

Tours will be available on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 11:00 a.m. to  3:00 p.m.

242 West 36th St., Manhattan

At M&S Schmalberg, a Garment District-based artificial flower business that’s been owned and operated by the same Jewish family for 108 years, Adam Brand, a fourth-generation owner, makes faux flowers much in the same way his ancestors did when they first opened in 1916. These days, M&S Schmalberg — which was started by Brand’s great-great uncles, brothers Morris and Sam Schmalberg — focuses on custom fabric flower projects for couture fashion designers, milliners and costume designers. During Open House New York Weekend, visitors will be able to witness “every step of the vintage flower-making process.” 

The atelier will be open on Friday, Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with tours every 30 minutes. 

12 Eldridge St., Manhattan

This unique Lower East Side museum is housed in the landmarked Eldridge Street Synagogue, which first opened in 1887 and is the first “great house of worship” opened by Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the U.S. The building is “the only remaining marker of the great wave of Jewish migration to the Lower East Side that is open to a broad public.” Guided tours will be available throughout the day and will include a viewing of “Memory and Inheritance: Paintings and Ceremonial Objects by Tobi Kahn,” a site-specific retrospective of the famed Jewish artist’s career. 

Open Sunday, Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with guided tours available on the hour. 

526 LaGuardia Pl., Manhattan

In 1963, famed Jewish American sculptor Chaim Gross — who was born in Galicia and immigrated to New York City in 1921 — and his wife, Renee, converted a Greenwich Village art storage warehouse into a residence. Now home to The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation, the building will be open to self-guided tours, which includes a gallery of Gross’s work on the first floor and the family’s former living and dining space on the third floor, which includes hundreds of pieces from their extensive art collection.

The space will be open on Saturday, Oct. 19 and Sunday, Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

1 East 65th St., Manhattan 

Founded in 1845, Temple Emanu-El is home to the oldest Reform Jewish congregation in the city. Its impressive limestone building — designed by Robert D. Kohn, Charles Butler and Clarence Stein — was completed in 1927 and is one of the largest synagogues in the world. The unique design “combines Byzantine and early Romanesque form with Moorish and Art Deco style,” according to the New York Landmarks Conservancy. In addition to showcasing the congregation’s stunning sanctuary, with mosaics by famed muralist Hildreth Meière, the tour also includes a viewing of the new “All About Herzl” exhibition at the on-site Herbert & Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica.

The building will be open on Sunday, Oct. 20 with guided tours available at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.