This special walking tour explores how New Yorkers celebrated Rosh Hashana in the 1900s

The Tenement Museum regularly hosts walking tours focused on Jewish life on the Lower East Side, but none are quite as special as its upcoming High Holidays-themed experience. This unique tour will run on five different dates throughout September and will spotlight the Levine and Rogarshevsky families, exploring how they celebrated Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in the early 1900s.

The inspiration for the tour is as fascinating as its subject: staff discovered a “high holiday ticket” under one of the tenement’s floorboards, sparking an investigation into the history of these synagogue tickets, which reportedly “sold like hotcakes.” Along the way, you’ll also learn about the U.S. Post Office asking Jewish residents to send fewer Rosh Hashana cards and how “entrepreneurs transformed dance halls, movie halls, and saloons into temporary synagogues,” according to the official tour description.

The experience doesn’t end with the walk. Attendees will gather in the Tenement Museum’s demonstration kitchen for a special presentation and tasting with culinary historian and author Sarah Lohman, who will prepare a citron cake from Hinde Amhanitski’s 1901 Yiddish cookbook A Manual for Cooking and Baking. It’s the perfect sweet bite after a two-hour stroll through downtown Manhattan.

Tickets are available now right here, and the tour will be offered on the following dates and times:

Sunday, September 14, 3pm to 5pm
Thursday, September 18, 6pm to 8pm
Sunday, September 21, 3pm to 5pm
Thursday, September 25, 6pm to 8pm
Sunday, September 28, 3pm to 5pm