Upcoming Events
Virtual Book Talk: The Extraordinary Story of “Hester Street”
Join author Dr. Julia Wagner on Sunday, February 8th at 2pm Eastern Time on Zoom to discuss her new book, Hester Street (BFI Film Classics/Bloomsbury 2025), the first book to focus exclusively on Joan Micklin Silver’s films.
Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 debut feature film, Hester Street, changed the face of Jewish American cinema and forged a path for women in the industry. Marking the film’s 50th anniversary, Dr. Wagner will explore how this trailblazing Yiddish, feminist film defied expectations and became an international hit that still delights all these years later.
Hester Street evokes the immigrant experience through the character Gitl (Carol Kane, whose performance earned her an Academy Award nomination), as she steps off the boat from Eastern Europe and into the heart of New York’s Lower East Side in 1896. Reunited with her assimilated husband, Gitl must adjust to American life and negotiate how much of the old world she can bring into the new.
Julia’s talk will uncover the fascinatingly rich layers of Yiddish culture in the narrative and will bring vital new insights to an under-appreciated landmark film.
Please see the Zoom link in your order confirmation email. This program is entirely virtual.
Registration for this Zoom program is pay-what-you-wish. The following are suggested amounts for each ticket type:
Adults $12
Seniors $10
Students $8
Virtual Seminar with Dr. Susan Ackerman: Pregnancy & Childbirth Rituals in Ancient Israel
In conjunction with the Museum at Eldridge Street’s current exhibition, First Light: Birth in the Jewish Tradition, join Professor Emerita of Religion at Dartmouth College, Susan Ackerman, on Zoom as we explore pregnancy and childbirth rituals in ancient Israel.
While there are not many passages in the Bible that shed light on pregnancy and childbirth rituals in ancient Israel, looking elsewhere in the ancient world, especially to the cultures of Hatti, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, can help us identify possible rituals that Israelite women may have used during pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
Join Dr. Ackerman on February 11th at 6pm Eastern Time as she traces the experience of the ancient world’s mothers-to-be from conception, through pregnancy, to delivery. She will also provide evidence regarding ancient Israelite mothers’ ritual activities, such as consulting oracles, using protective amulets and anointing oil, knot-magic rituals, reciting incantations, and bathing newborns.
Please see the Zoom link in your order confirmation email. This program is entirely virtual.
Registration for this Zoom program is pay-what-you-wish. The following are suggested amounts for each ticket type:
Adults $12
Seniors $10
Students $8
Baroque Masterwork Concert: “Ester, Liberatrice Del Popolo Ebreo”
In celebration of the critically-praised Navona Records release of the first and only complete recording of Ester, Liberatrice Del Popolo Ebreo (“Esther, Liberator of the Jewish People”) by Alessandro Stradella (1639–1682), members of the original cast reunite for a special performance of this 1673 masterwork in honor of the Purim holiday.
Exploring themes of courage, self-acceptance, ambition, justice, and power, Stradella’s Ester tells the story of a timid girl, secret Jew, and Persian Queen who summons the bravery to save her people from annihilation. While the oratorio, a large-scale musical narrative, derives its plot from the biblical story of The Book of Esther, modern audiences will surely find resonance and relevance in the journey of a lone woman who triumphs over tyranny.
Originally intended to be played in a Baroque palace for an aristocratic Catholic audience, this bracingly innovative work composed by a volatile genius was largely lost to time before its recent rediscovery and revival. Join us on Sunday, March 8th at 3pmas Stradella’s Ester resounds again in the Museum at Eldridge Street’s magnificently restored 1887 Main Sanctuary.
Musicians:
Ester: Jessica Gould, soprano
Speranza Celeste: Sonia Tedla, soprano
Mardocheo: Kinneret Ely, countertenor
Aman: Gabriele Lombardi, baritone
Assuero: Salvo Vitale, bass
Members of the Camerata Grimani chamber ensemble
Concert Tickets (Include Museum Admission):
Adult $30 (at-the-door $35)
Student / Senior $25 (at-the-door $30)
Child Under 18 $15 (at-the-door $20)
Cool Culture Pass / SNAP Benefits $5
GET TICKETS HERE
There is no reserved seating.
Copies of the CD will be available for purchase at this event.
This performance is presented in partnership with Salon Sanctuary Concerts.
By registering, you agree that the information you provide will be visible to both the Museum at Eldridge Street and Salon Sanctuary.
Art History Through a Jewish Lens: Esther—From Ahasuerus to the Ayatollahs
Join art historian and lecturer Ellaine Rosen, Monday, March 9th at 6pm Eastern Time on Zoom, and follow Purim heroine Queen Esther through her depictions in art!
The holiday of Purim is a drama infused with sex, love, money, murder, and a plot twist worthy of a soap opera. Packed with seductions, palace intrigue, and sudden reversals, a reluctant Jewish queen rises from obscurity to outsmart an entire empire and save her people from annihilation.
Follow the narrative of the Book of Esther through the eyes of master artists such as Rembrandt, while also tracing the fate of Persian Jews from the palace at Shushan, through the upheavals of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, to the present day.
Please see the Zoom link in your order confirmation email. This program is entirely virtual.
Registration for this Zoom program is pay-what-you-wish. The following are suggested amounts for each ticket type:
Adults $12
Seniors $10
Students $8
Midwood x Nakshatra Concert: Klezmer Meets Indian Classical!
Join the Museum at Eldridge Street on Sunday, April 19th at 3pm in welcoming Jake Shulman-Ment and his Yiddish folk band, Midwood, in collaboration with Nakshatra, an Indian Carnatic violin duo, featuring Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy.
Explore the links and differences between traditional Ashkenazi and Indian classical styles for a performance that can only be found in New York City. In addition to similarities in scales and ornamentation, both styles have fundamental roots in spiritual or prayerful music that will resound throughout our historic 1887 Main Sanctuary.
Join Midwood and Nakshatra as they come together to create a bath of lush transcontinental sounds.
Midwood: Jake Shulman-Ment (violin, vocals); Eleonore Weill (vocals, flutes, accordion, hurdy gurdy); Yoshie Fruchter (guitar, oud); Richie Barshay (drums)
Nakshatra: Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy (violins)
Concert Tickets (Include Museum Admission):
Adult $30 (at-the-door $35)
Student / Senior $25 (at-the-door $30)
Child 5-17 $15 (at-the-door $20)
Child under 5 FREE
Cool Culture Pass / SNAP Benefits $5
GET TICKETS HERE
There is no reserved seating.
Past Events
About Museum at Eldridge Street
The Museum at Eldridge Street is housed in the Eldridge Street Synagogue, a magnificent National Historic Landmark that has been meticulously restored.
Opened in 1887, the synagogue is the first great house of worship built in America by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Today, it is the only remaining marker of the great wave of Jewish migration to the Lower East Side that is open to a broad public who wish to visit Jewish New York.
Exhibits, tours, cultural events and educational programs tell the story of Jewish immigrant life, explore architecture and historic preservation, inspire reflection on cultural continuity, and foster collaboration and exchange between people of all faiths, heritages and interests.