During the European migration of the late 1800s, one-third of all Eastern European Jews set sail for the United States. The vast majority settled in New York City, and most lived in the crowded tenements of the Lower East Side. The Eldridge Street Synagogue, completed in 1887, is the first house of worship they built in America.

Sit in its wooden seats, and your eye will be drawn to the original, hand-carved walnut ark, and then upward along the towering stained glass windows and seventy-foot vaulted ceilings. As you listen to the rich stories of your tour guide, you can almost hear the echo of the 1,000 worshippers who regularly gathered there for high-holiday service -- including actors Edward G. Robinson and Paul Muni, and the inventor of the polio vaccine, Dr. Jonas Salk. In the roaring 20s, tighter immigration laws slowed membership, and the sanctuary closed in the 1950s. The not-for-profit Eldridge Street Project was incorporated in 1986 to restore the long neglected building to its original grandeur. Today the group provides educational and cultural programs all year-round for adults and children of every age group and background.