ooh, shiny!

[cellio]

I just learned about this one-week learning program (in July) at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva in Manhattan. The classes sound really engaging and meaty (click through for descriptions). Here's what they say is a typical day:

Morning:
7:30 am - Davening with Yeshiva community (optional for Seminar participants)
8:00 am - Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 am [sic] -- Text Classes offered for participants with varied levels of Jewish text experience, with special Talmud class for beginners, and an opportunity to integrate with Yeshivat Hadar's Talmud class for participants with Jewish text backgrounds.

Afternoon (all classes are with the Yeshivat Hadar fellows):
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm -- Lunch with the Yeshivat Hadar community
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm -- Halakhah Seminar with Rabbi Ethan Tucker
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm -- Break and Minhah (optional for Seminar participants)
4:00 pm - 6:30 pm -- Jewish Thought Seminar with Rabbi Shai Held (and Yeshivat Hadar students)

Evenings:
Dinner
Special Speakers
Nights out in NYC

I only know Hadar by reputation (of, mainly, the associated independent minyan, and what I read in Empowered Judaism by R. Tucker). Do any of my readers know more? They say they welcome students of diverse backgrounds; I assume the guiding principles (for learning and davening) are traditional.

Do I know anybody else who might attend? And is it actually practical to (1) lodge and (2) park a car in the upper west side? (Please take as given that I basically know nothing about NYC neighborhoods and precious little about getting around beyond "I hear good things about the subway system".)

Comments

more information than you may have wanted

[gingicat]

When we go to NYC, we stay with my parents in Riverdale (where I grew up) and take a bus to the #1 train south (downtown, street numbers get smaller). These days, anywhere along the #1 train is reasonably safe in daylight, but you'll find everything you need between 122nd St and Broadway (Jewish Theological Seminary) and 96th St and Broadway. The barrio is pretty safe and full of great front-stoop music (or so says my high-school memory), so going east can be fun but you are unlikely to have time.
(and now I am typing around a three-year old who is taking advantage of the fact that I am staying home with the sick 5-year-old)
From Riverdale, it's a 15-minute bus ride (not counting wait time) and then about 40 minutes to 72nd St,
From Jersey City, there are a number of PATH train options that will bring you to the #1 train; one will take you to the World Trade Center, where you take the A train north (uptown) to the 1 train north (uptown).

Train system maps:
http://www.mta.info/maps/
I don't know that much about the NJ end - I know that buses go into Port Authority at 33rd and 9th Avenue and you can easily catch a bus to your destination there. NJ Transit goes into Penn Station (34th St) where you can easily catch the #1 train.

I know you have limited vision, so I should let you know that most subway signage is in a font where the capital letters are about 6 inches high, and 6-10 feet from the floor. (There are exceptions - the station names on the platforms are considerably bigger.) There are lots of signs, and following them has not gotten me lost.

There are four or five kosher restaurants in the general area and most restaurants have excellent vegetarian options.

Columbia University is at 116th and Broadway. St John the Divine (which is well worth a visit on beauty alone) is at 110th and Central Park West, Riverside Church is at 110th? and Riverside Avenue. Grant's Tomb is also in that general area. I've already mentioned the Jewish Theological Seminary. The Museum of Natural History is at ~79th and Central Park West, a pretty easy walk from 72nd and Broadway. Other museums are on the other side of Central Park. There's the Central Park Zoo and a number of other nifty things in Central Park.

Re: more information than you may have wanted

[cellio]

Thanks for all the information! (Which I will compare to a map to better understand. :-) ) And thanks especially for the "vision alert" on signage. Street signs and bus signs can be challenging; one advantage of subways is that they tend to be easier to navigate in that regard. (Generalizing from Boston and Toronto.)

And ooh, I completely forgot that there was a zoo in Central Park!

Re: more information than you may have wanted

[hatam-soferet.livejournal.com]

If the vision thing means you'd rather have sourcesheets in big print, tell them beforehand, and remind them, and be pushy about it. It'll be good for their souls.