The LOWER EAST SIDE of Manhattan was the historic first home for most of the Jews in the New York metropolitan area, particularly those who arrived in the peak immigration years between 1880 and 1920. In fact, it is theorized that the majority of American Jews have at least one grandparent or great-grandparent who had lived on the Lower East Side. And since most Jews, wherever they may be, have a relation or two in the United States, then it follows that Jews all over the world have a sentimental connection to this famous neighborhood.

The tourist might want to check out some of the Ashkenazic-Jewish foods that still are sold on the Lower East Side. For an area that once had been impassably packed with the carts of food purveyors, fishmongers with their carp leaping in tubs, chickenflickers which slaughtered the bird of the customer's choice, greengrocers, Middle Eastern importers of halvah and chickpeas and many others, precious little survives.

ECONOMY CANDY MARKET obviously specializes in candy, as well as the dried fruits so beloved in Eastern Europe; of course, they also sell mustard and biscotti these days, too. KOSSAR'S BIALYSTOKER bakery is the ultimate biali bakery, while GERTEL'S is a well-regarded pastry shop with marvelous dairy concoctions, and tables to sit down for a nosh. Their soups win high praise, too. 

A couple of pickle shops now are fighting for supremacy. THE PICKLE GUYS OF ESSEX STREET is the successor to GUSS PICKLES, made famous by the movie CROSSING DELANCEY.  Guss, like so many other area residents, had relocated to a prestigious Long Island suburb, but its final staff stayed on at The Pickle Guys. Now, Guss—sold by the original Guss family quite a while ago—has re-opened next to the Tenement Museum. Both shops have great pickles, but The Pickle Guys' snap and crunch may be marginally better. In addition, under strict supervision, The Pickle Guys sell a line of packaged smoked fish products. During Passover, the Pickle Guys grate their own horseradish and they insist that the product is so strong that they need to wear gas masks while preparing it! 

NOAH'S ARK, a much- needed Glatt kosher deli, brand-new but old-fashioned, recently opened. (The justifiably famous SECOND AVENUE DELI—also Glatt—actually is a mile north of the traditional Lower East Side.) Another newcomer is KADOURI & SONS, which specializes in the Middle Eastern delights that the Eastern European Jews regarded as such a treat.

Come Passover, there are lines outside of STREIT'S MATZOH, just as there have been for more than eighty years. And that's about it. Even RATNER'S wonderful dairy restaurant finally has closed its doors.

So a taste of the Lower East Side remains, but little more, just that taste, a tantalizing clue as to what life once was like there. 

Anybody with an interest in Jewish history, either a visitor to New York or a resident, would benefit from a day spent exploring the Lower East Side. One had better hurry, too, since the Jewish Lower East Side has all but disappeared.
 
The ELDRIDGE STREET SYNAGOGUE is a hybrid, a working congregation combined with a National Historic landmark. The Eldridge Street Synagogue was the first great synagogue built in New York by the Eastern European Jews. It has a well-designed website that offers an on-line list of original congregants. They charge a nominal admission fee. 
 
The TENEMENT MUSEUM, which features apartments restored to their original condition, well may be more touching than the synagogue. It is appalling to see how harsh were the conditions under which our ancestors had lived. There is an object lesson in remembering that our ancestors nonetheless were grateful for the opportunity of living in such abject poverty, just to be in this “Golden Land,” with the hope of building a better life for their descendants. All of us today are their beneficiaries. There is an admission fee here as well.
 
Since the ferry to Ellis Island is quite near the Lower East Side, many people combine both of these explorations into a single day. And it is sure to prove to be a day that they always will remember.

Families which follow the tradition of not eating “gebruks” should substitute potato flour for the matzoh meal during Passover.

A potato kugel may be “parve,” containing neither milk nor meat. If it is being prepared specifically for a meat meal, however, rendered chicken fat may replace the vegetable oil.

Because poor families could not afford many eggs, the old-fashioned potato kugels were heavier, leaden, due to fewer eggs (a function of cost) and no baking powder. The new, modern, kugels are lighter, creamier, more custardy and souffle-like, the result of using more eggs and adding the baking powder.