Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial in Manhattan

On one of your trips to New York, maybe not the first one given how many NYC attractions there are to see, I'd recommend stopping by the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

This isn't a traditional tourist visit, and I'll tell you up front that it's a heartbreaking experience: its mission is to be a living memorial to the Holocaust.

The museum sits in Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan. It's convenient to visit before or after sailing out to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, not just because it's close by, but because these places are historically linked and together they'll give you a deeper understanding of the history of migration to New York.

It's also a good idea to visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage if you want to learn more about New York's Jewish community, one of the largest in the world and central to the city's character.

What to see at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

As I mentioned, this museum was created to honor the victims of the Holocaust. It does so by celebrating their lives and traditions, but also their tragic deaths, which explains the reflective atmosphere inside.

The museum's premise is powerful. Its curators argue that memory alone isn't enough, and that what matters is what we do with it. That's precisely their mission: to remember the genocide so that something like it never happens again.

The permanent collection presents stories of the Jewish community that immigrated to New York, most of them from Central and Eastern Europe.

You'll see how they've kept their past alive right up to the present day, becoming one of the most prominent Jewish communities outside Israel.

There are other permanent installations too, like the Garden of Stones designed by artist Andy Goldsworthy in memory of the victims of World War II.

They also host traveling exhibitions, like the powerful «Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away«, which was on view through May 2021.

That exhibition brought together more than 700,000 objects and 400 photographs documenting the dark history of Auschwitz, the complex of 48 concentration and extermination camps where a million Jews lost their lives, along with 10,000 people from other communities.

The Jewish community in New York

To grasp the scale of Jewish influence in New York, consider this: it's the largest Jewish community outside Israel, with more than two million members.

You'll see Orthodox Jews in every corner of the city, but a few Brooklyn neighborhoods hold the largest population, with Williamsburg being the Jewish neighborhood par excellence (back in the 19th century, the Lower East Side was NYC's Jewish heart).

If you want to learn more about the history of New York's Jews, head to the Eldridge Street Museum, housed in the first great synagogue built in New York.

Famous New York Jews

Plenty of descendants of those first immigrants have left their mark on the world from New York. Just a few examples: Woody Allen, Philip Glass (whose compositions keep me company while I write Newyorkando for you), the brilliant Isaac Asimov (whose books I read when I'm not writing Newyorkando XD), Barbra Streisand…

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Museum of Jewish Heritage address

Edmond J. Safra Plaza. 36 Battery Place

How to get there

Lines 4, 5. Bowling Green station
Line R. Whitehall Street or Rector Street station
Line 1. South Ferry

Prices

Adults $18 / seniors 65+ and students $12 / under 12 free.

Admission to the Museum of Jewish Heritage is already included in the New York Pass and the Sightseeing Pass.

Hours:

On Thursdays between 4 pm and 8 pm, admission to the Museum of Jewish Heritage is free.

Sunday, Wednesday and Friday 10 am to 5 pm

Thursday 10 am to 8 pm

Closed Monday, Tuesday and Saturday.

Closed Saturdays, Jewish holidays and national holidays

You can check more details for your visit on the museum's official site.