If you're looking to learn more about the Jewish infrastructure in downtown Manhattan, this guide is for you. Read on for links that will help you navigate ritual and social aspects of our Jewish community.
Kosher establishments
Restaurants
There are many kosher restaurants in the area. Several are collected on the interactive map available here. Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side also maintains a list. (Please note that the presence of an establishment on these lists does not constitute an official endorsement of the hashgacha by the Downtown Minyan. For any questions, please email us.)
Butchers
East Side Glatt is a kosher butcher on the Lower East Side that delivers throughout the downtown area.
500 Grand St. | New York, NY 10002
(212) 254-3335
Many butchers deliver to Lower Manhattan. One of our regular caterers, I&D Glatt, based in Brooklyn, delivers to Manhattan for a fee and provides regular butcher offerings and pre-made food.
Member restaurant recommendations
Mocha Burger - trendy, super delicious
Sushi Tokyo - chill and intimate
Mendy's - classic, casual deli
Bonito NYC - fancy dinner option
Historical and cultural resources
There is a rich history of Jewish life in Lower Manhattan. Jews from all over the world settled in the area when they arrived in the United States.
The first Jews in North America arrived in New York from Spain and Portugal, by way of Amsterdam and Brazil, in 1654, and built a synagogue called Shearith Israel, initially located on Beaver Street and then later on Mill Street. The waves of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century from Eastern Europe through Ellis Island gave rise to the Ashkenazi, Yiddish-speaking cultural force in New York.
See below for a selection of books on the history of Jews in the area:
Lower East Side Memories: A Jewish Place in America - Hasia R. Diner
Yeshiva Days: Learning on the Lower East Side - Jonathan Boyarin
The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited: A History and Guide to a Legendary New York Neighborhood - Joyce Mendelsohn
Other local institutions
We work with numerous other communities in the neighborhood of all denominations. The Downtown Minyan meets primarily on Shabbat and holidays. If you are looking for information on daily services, please email us. Below are several local cultural institutions.
Center for Jewish History - The largest and most comprehensive archive of the modern Jewish experience outside of Israel.
15 West 16th Street | New York, NY 10011
Museum at Eldridge Street - The first grand synagogue purpose-built by Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the United States, which became a cultural hotspot in the bustling Jewish Lower East Side in the late 19th century.
12 Eldridge Street | New York, NY 10002
Tenement Museum - The museum offers visitors a chance to explore the historically recreated homes of immigrant, migrant, and refugee families who lived in city tenements between the 1860s and the 1980s, including many Jewish immigrants.
103 Orchard Street | New York, NY 10002
Museum of Jewish Heritage - The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust.
36 Battery Place | New York, NY 10280
Spanish and Portuguese Cemeteries - Shearith Israel was the only Jewish congregation in New York City from 1654 until 1825. The earliest Jewish cemetery in the U.S. was recorded in 1656 in what was then New Amsterdam. These are the only Jewish cemeteries in Manhattan.
Various downtown locations
Kehila Kedosha Jenina - A repository for Romaniote and Sephardic Greek Jewish history, both in Greece and on the Lower East Side (Romaniote Jews are a unique community of Jewish people from Greece). The congregation was first organized in New York in 1906 by Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews. Kehila Kedosha Jenina is also an active synagogue.
280 Broome St | New York, NY 10002
If you're interested in learning more about the many and varied downtown Jewish spaces, including synagogues, Chabad houses, and more, please email us.
Eruv information
The Manhattan eruv includes lower Manhattan: see a map and support the eruv here. An eruv is a symbolic enclosure that surrounds the Jewish community and allows its members to carry in public spaces on Shabbat.
Mikvah information
Chelsea Community Mikvah
121 W. 19th St | New York, NY 10011
Women's immersions only. For more information, visit their website.
Mikvah of Lower East Side
313 E. Broadway | New York, NY 10002
For more information on specific times for men's, women's, and dish immersions, please call (212) 729-8279.
A mikvah is an immersion pool in Jewish halacha (law) that restores or initiates ritual purity. It plays a role in making dishes kosher, in family purity law, and in conversion. For further information, see the NYC mikvah directory here.
Are there other resources you'd like to see on this page? Get in touch and let us know!