Shoshanah Brombacher's COLORS OF CHANUKAH Set for Fifth Jewish Heritage Festival, 11/3

The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will open Colors of Chanukah: The Art of Shoshanah Brombacher at the Fifth Jewish Heritage Festival on Sunday, November 3, 2013. The exhibit showcases the work of artist Shoshanah Brombacher, whose lively, colorful oil paintings explore Chasidic-Jewish themes and folklore. Brombacher will be on hand at the LESJC Kling & Niman Family Visitor Center to give a live presentation of her works at 1:30 PM.

The exhibit is only one part of the day-long Fifth Jewish Heritage Festival. The activity-packed day of exploring and learning about the Jewish history of Manhattan's Lower East Side includes three walking tours of the neighborhood, a vintage goods benefit sale and "Gals From the Hood," a special presentation by four renowned guest speakers.

Events kick off at 10:45 AM at the LESJC Kling & Niman Family Visitor Center, with two simultaneous walking tours exploring the historic neighborhood. "Bialystoker the Beautiful" is a 90-minute tour of the magnificent Bialystoker Synagogue, which was built in 1826 as a Methodist church, and its surroundings. The "Bialystoker the Beautiful" tour is presented a second time at 3:00 PM. Also beginning at 10:45 AM is the "Crossing Delancey" tour, which examines three of the oldest synagogues in New York City: Congregation Chasam Sopher, the Orensanz Foundation, and Congregation B'nei Jacob Anshei Brzezan, one of only two remaining tenement style synagogues left on the Lower East Side.

The festivities continue at 12:30 PM at the Kling & Niman Family Visitor Center withGals From the Hood, a presentation about what life was like for Jewish women on the Lower East Side. In this engaging presentation, four women who grew up together on the Lower East Side, and have remained friends for over 50 years, discuss the experiences of their families in the neighborhood. Panelists includeHesta Fortgang, (co-owner of Tag-Along Estate Sales), Marilyn Guss Altman(daughter of the founder of Guss's Pickles), Carol Schneider Margolin (daughter of the K'nish Man) and Carol Hordin (daughter of the founder of Hordin's Deli). The four women will also be sponsoring a benefit sale throughout the day, with vintage goods for the home, fashion jewelry, artifacts and serving ware available for purchase. All sale proceeds will benefit the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy.

All three tours meet at the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy Kling & Niman Family Visitor Center at 400 Grand Street, between Clinton and Suffolk Streets. Admission for all tours is $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors and available at http://www.nycjewishtours.org/calendar.htm#101313 . Children age 8 and under tour for free. Tickets are $2 additional day of tours.