On April 8, Kitah Chet (8th & 9th Grade) traveled to New York City for 48 hours of Jewish drama, history and food. We hopped on a bus at Union Station in DC and were dropped off later that morning in mid-town Manhattan. Our first stop was Maoz, a kosher fast-casual falafel restaurant. The food was delicious, but the restaurant was tiny so we ate our lunch al fresco on a cold breezy day! After dropping our bags off at our hotel some of us walked around the Times Square area and others chose to chill out at a local Starbucks.
Our first event was attending the show “The Band’s Visit” at Barrymore Theatre. In this show, a mix-up sends a group of Egyptian musicians to a remote Israeli town. When the locals take them in for the night, their lives intertwine in the most unexpected ways. For some students, this was their first Broadway show. The singing and acting was wonderful and we all appreciated the experience. We spent the rest of the evening eating – first at John’s Pizza, which is located in a renovated church and still retains a beautiful stained-glass ceiling. We stopped for dessert at Magnolia Bakery, renowned for banana pudding and enormous cake slices.
The next morning, we took the subway to the Lower East Side for a visit to the Tenement Museum. Our tour took place in a building originally constructed in 1863 and home to many Jewish immigrants over the years. We saw renovated-to-the-era apartments and learned about the garment work that many Jewish families did to survive (giving rise to the infamous term “sweat shop”). The students had many questions about how families survived, if children went to school, and what life was like within these cramped and dark apartments.
We finished our NYC experience with a kosher Chinese vegetarian lunch at Buddha Bodai, followed by a stop for knishes at Yonah Schimmel’s famous restaurant (tip: try the broccoli and potato knish). There was lots of napping on the bus ride home.
Kitah Chet will take an annual trip to experience living Judaism in other cities. Stay tuned for next year’s trip to Philadelphia!
Laura Naide,
Chaperone and Knish Lover