Move over Tenement Museum - here comes American Girl

While visiting the American Girl store for the first time, the history buff in me was happily surprised to meet a doll named Rebecca among their "Historical Figures." Rebecca is a girl of about 12, living on the Lower East Side in 1914. To illustrate her world, they've built a charming diorama of a room in Rebecca's home - replete with egg cream, seltzer bottle and  bagel.

Remarkable Shearith Israel

I've been attending a class at Shearith Israel, which is the oldest Jewish congregation in New York, founded in 1654. It's first building (1730) was on Mill Street and then others followed on Crosby Street (1833), 19th Street (1859) and at the current site on West 70th and Central Park West (1897). It's a substantial building with a magnificent sanctuary modeled after one of the grand synagogues of Amsterdam and graced with enormous Tiffany stained-glass windows. But the real historical gem is the Little Synagogue, which contains items from all the previous buildings. It's definitely worth a visit.

The class is taking 20 weeks to cover events that have significantly affected Jews and their world view and religious practices. It is taught by a young, very knowledgeable rabbi who is doing a great job both relating the historical events and putting them in context. Of course, a certain portion of this history is simply horrifying, such as last week's class on the Crusades, but all of it shows the remarkable, almost miraculous, ability of Jews to keep alive their religion and extensive intellectual life in the face of constant harassment and persecution.