Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum

{{Short description|Institution in Washington, D.C., United States}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox museum | name = Capital Jewish Museum | logo = Capital Jewish Museum Logo.png | image = Capital Jewish Museum (53839144287).jpg | location = 575 3rd Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20008 | coordinates = {{Coord|region:US-DC_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | map_type = United States Washington, D.C. central | map_caption = Location within central Washington, D.C. | former_name = {{ubl|Lillia & Albert Small<br/>Jewish Museum|Jewish Historical Society<br/>of Greater Washington}} | established = {{ubl|{{Start date|1975}} (museum)|{{Start date|1960}} (historical society) }} | type = {{ubl|Jewish museum|History museum}} | website = {{URL|https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/}} | embedded = {{Infobox NRHP |embed = yes |name = Adas Israel Synagogue (original) |nrhp_type = |image = Adas Israel Synagogue.JPG |caption = Adas Israel Synagogue in 2008 |area = |built = 1876 |architect = Max Kleinman; J. William & Co. |architecture = |added = March 24, 1969 |refnum = 69000288<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a }}</ref> |designated_other1 = DCIHS |designated_other1_abbr = DCIHS |designated_other1_date = March 7, 1968 }} }} The '''Capital Jewish Museum''', officially the '''Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum''', is a historical society and museum in Washington, D.C., focused on the history of Jewish life in the American capital city and the surrounding Washington metropolitan area.

Formerly known as the '''Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington''' ('''JHSGW'''), the organization adopted a new name in 2018 as it prepared for the opening of its new museum.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/about-us/ |title=About Us |website=Capital Jewish Museum |language=en-US |access-date=November 6, 2019 }}</ref> The organization was founded in 1960 and incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1965.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.jhsgw.org/about-us/mission-and-history |title=Mission & History {{!}} Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington {{!}} Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum |website=Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623225748/https://www.jhsgw.org/about-us/mission-and-history |archive-date=June 23, 2016 |access-date=November 18, 2019 }}</ref> From 1975 to 2016, it operated the Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum in the historic Adas Israel Synagogue building, an 1876 structure that is the oldest surviving synagogue in the city.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/about-us/ |title=About Us |website=Capital Jewish Museum |language=en-US |access-date=November 18, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |url=https://wjla.com/news/local/oldest-synagogue-in-dc-on-move-to-site-of-new-capital-jewish-museum |title=DC's oldest synagogue moves to site of new Capital Jewish Museum |last=ABC7 |first=John Gonzalez and Sam Ford |date=January 9, 2019 |website=WJLA |access-date=November 18, 2019 }}</ref> The synagogue building has been moved three times in its history, with a final move in 2019 to become part of the Capital Jewish Museum.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://wamu.org/story/19/01/09/yes-that-was-d-c-s-oldest-synagogue-moving-down-the-street-again/ |title=Yes, That Was D.C.'s Oldest Synagogue Moving Down The Street (Again) |last=Lefrak |first=Mikaela |date=January 9, 2019 |website=WAMU |language=en |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=July 3, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/12/AR2005081201336.html |title=The Temple That Traveled |last=Myers |first=Phyllis |date=August 14, 2005 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=May 22, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/historic-synagogue/ |title=Historic Synagogue |website=Capital Jewish Museum |language=en-US |access-date=November 6, 2019 }}</ref>

== Museum ==

The Capital Jewish Museum, which opened in 2023, is a {{Convert|32500|sqft|sqm|abbr=off|sp=us|adj=on}} facility located in the Judiciary Square and Capitol Crossing neighborhood of Northwest Washington.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/making-the-museum/ |title=Making the Museum |website=Capital Jewish Museum |access-date=November 18, 2019 }}</ref> The four-story building at 3rd and F Streets NW includes three floors of exhibit and programming space. It incorporates the historic synagogue that formerly housed the museum, with the sanctuary "restored to its original appearance."<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2018-Annual-Report-final.small_.pdf |title=2018 Annual Report |last=Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum / Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington |date=2018 |website=Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=November 18, 2019 }}</ref><ref name="avb">{{Cite web | url=https://www.jns.org/jns/topic/23/6/19/296517/ |title=Capital Jewish Museum opens in Washington, DC |website=JNS |date=June 19, 2023 }}</ref>

The museum refers to the historic synagogue as the "centerpiece" and "largest artifact" of the new museum.<ref name=":4" /> Other artifacts in the museum's collection include a lace collar worn by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; a notebook used by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis;<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |url=https://georgetowner.com/articles/2019/01/10/oldest-synagogue-building-physically-moves-new-location-dc-photos/ |title=Oldest Synagogue Building Moves to New D.C. Site (photos) |last=Malet |first=Jeff |date=January 10, 2019 |website=The Georgetowner |language=en-US |access-date=November 18, 2019 }}</ref> photographs of Jewish life in Washington, such as a 1925 image of President Calvin Coolidge dedicating a local Jewish Community Center;<ref name=":0" /> a banner carried by Jewish lobbyist Hyman Bookbinder at the 1963 March on Washington;<ref name=":3" /> a kippah (yarmulke) from a White House Hanukkah celebration; and items from local Jewish businesses and families, such as a bookstore sign and a wedding cup.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/collections/ |title=Collections |website=Capital Jewish Museum |language=en-US |access-date=November 18, 2019 }}</ref>

== Adas Israel Synagogue == {{see also|Adas Israel Congregation (Washington, D.C.)}} The historic '''Adas Israel Synagogue''' was built in 1876 at 6th and G Streets, Northwest to house the Adas Israel Congregation. President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant attended the synagogue's dedication on June 9, 1876, marking the first Jewish service attended by a sitting president.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |url=https://wamu.org/story/16/11/03/yes_that_is_a_273_ton_dc_synagogue_thats_being_moved_again/ |title=A 273-Ton D.C. Synagogue Is Being Moved To Make Way For Development. Again. |last=Austermuhle |first=Martin |date=November 3, 2016 |website=WAMU |language=en |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=July 3, 2019 }}</ref> The building is the oldest surviving synagogue building in the District of Columbia.thumb|left|Adas Israel Synagogue being moved in 2017. This was the second time the building has been relocated. Over the following decades, an influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia swelled the congregation's numbers. The congregation continued to worship in the original synagogue until 1908, when a new building at Sixth and I Streets, NW was dedicated. The congregation later moved again, and the latter building is known today as the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |url={{NRHP url |id=69000288}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form |date=December 1968 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=June 6, 2013 }}</ref>

The original 1876 building was sold to Stephen Gatti, an Italian-American fruit dealer and real estate investor who lived a block away. In the 1910s, Saint Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church worshiped in the second-floor sanctuary. A succession of churches followed in the 1920s to 1940s. During the course of the next 60 years, the former synagogue's first floor was divided into retail spaces and housed a bicycle shop, barber, Joseph Funger's grocery store, Anthony Litteri's delicatessen, and other businesses.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1960s, plans for the construction of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority headquarters at the 6th and G intersection threatened the building with demolition.<ref name=":0" /> With the support of federal and city agencies, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington arranged to move the building three city blocks to Third and G Streets, NW.<ref name=":2" /> On September 1, 1969, President Richard Nixon signed a law authorizing the District of Columbia government to purchase the building and lease it to the Society for historic preservation purposes at $1 a year for 99 years.

The historic synagogue building was restored by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and became the home of the Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum starting in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/content/lillian-albert-small-jewish-museum |title=Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum {{!}} AMERICAN HERITAGE |website=www.americanheritage.com |access-date=November 6, 2019 }}</ref>

The historic synagogue building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites, and Historic American Buildings Survey. It is among the oldest synagogue buildings still standing in the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gordon |first=Mark W. |year=1996 |title=Rediscovering Jewish Infrastructure: Update on United States Nineteenth Century Synagogues |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/379 |publisher=Project MUSE, Johns Hopkins University |volume=84 |pages=11–27 |access-date=May 22, 2018 |via=jhu.edu |journal=American Jewish History |number=1 }} [http://www.ajhs.org/rediscovering-jewish-infrastructure 2019 article update] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308163821/http://www.ajhs.org/rediscovering-jewish-infrastructure |date=March 8, 2022 }}.</ref> It is also an official project of the Save America's Treasures program.

=== Relocation to Capital Jewish Museum site (2016–21) === Starting in 2016, the development of the Capitol Crossing project required the building to move again, as the District of Columbia government sold the land on which it sat.<ref name=":2" /> In response, the museum was closed so that the building could be moved to a new permanent home, where it would re-open as part of a new museum building that would be constructed around the historic synagogue.

The move proceeded in two stages. First, the structure was moved about 50 feet to a temporary location on Third Street NW, to await the construction of a parking garage that would serve as its permanent base.<ref name=":2" /> Then, in early 2019, the building was moved to its final stop at the corner of Third and F Streets, NW. Local elected officials attended the move and gave speeches, and a rabbi offered a traveler's prayer.<ref name=":5" /> At the new location, the synagogue faces east, in accordance with Jewish custom.<ref name=":0" /> It is now part of the Capital Jewish Museum.

== 2025 shooting == {{main| 2025 killing of Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. workers}} thumb|Police tape cordons off the museum shortly after the shooting On May 21, 2025, two staff members of the Embassy of Israel, 30-year-old German-Israeli Yaron Lischinsky and his 26-year old American Jewish girlfriend Sarah Lynn Milgrim,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-22 |title='Full of light': Remembering Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-855044 |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=The Jerusalem Post|language=en}}</ref> were shot in the back 21 times at close range and killed outside the museum, as they were leaving a Jewish event hosted by the American Jewish Committee.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Helena |last1=Skinner |first2=Bill |last2=Hutchinson |date= 23 May 2025|title= What to know about the suspect in the killing of a couple outside the Capital Jewish Museum|url= https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-killing-couple-capital-jewish-museum/story?id=122068843|work= ABC News |access-date=7 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 22, 2025 |title=Two Israeli diplomats shot, killed during event at Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/two-israeli-diplomats-shot-killed-event-capital-jewish-museum-washington-dc|work=Fox News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Shelton |first=Alex Marquardt, Gabe Cohen, Holmes Lybrand, Jessie Yeung, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Kaanita Iyer, Lex Harvey, Teele Rebane, Lauren Kent, Shania |date=2025-05-22 |title=Two Israeli Embassy staff members killed near Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC: Live updates |url=https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/israeli-embassy-washington-dc-shooting-05-21-25 |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> The two victims were a young couple about to be engaged.<ref name="cbs">{{Cite news |date=May 22, 2025 |title=2 Israeli Embassy staff shot and killed outside Jewish Museum in D.C. |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-dc-shooting-near-fbi-office/ |work=CBS News}}</ref>

31-year-old Elias Rodriguez<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crane |first=Emily |date=2025-05-22 |title=What we know about Elias Rodriguez, terror suspect in DC Jewish Museum shooting |url=https://nypost.com/2025/05/22/us-news/what-we-know-about-elias-rodriguez-terror-suspect-accused-of-killing-two-israeli-embassy-staffers-in-dc/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |language=en-US}}</ref> was arrested as the suspect after being apprehended by event security. He pulled out a red Palestinian-style keffiyeh and chanted "free, free Palestine!" as he was in custody.<ref name=":10">{{Cite news |last=Ward |first=Jasper |last2=Rose |first2=Emily |last3=Ward |first3=Jasper |date=May 22, 2025 |title=Suspect charged with murder in fatal DC shooting of two Israel embassy aides |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/two-israeli-embassy-staffers-killed-washington-shooting-2025-05-22/ |access-date= |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref><ref name="cbs" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 22, 2025 |title=2 staff members of Israeli embassy killed in shooting near Jewish museum in DC; suspect from Chicago |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/nation-world/2025/05/21/2-staff-members-of-israeli-embassy-killed-in-shooting-near-jewish-museum-in-dc|work=Chicago Sun-Times}}</ref>

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, called it a "depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chinchilla |first=Rudy |date=May 21, 2025 |title=Israeli Embassy staffers shot dead outside D.C.'s Capital Jewish Museum |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/shooting-dc-jewish-museum-rcna208427 |access-date=May 21, 2025 |work=NBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite tweet |number=1925388251864379433 |user=dannydanon |title=The fatal shooting that took place outside the event that took place at the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. is a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism. Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line. We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act. Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens and representatives – everywhere in the world. |first=Danny |last=Danon |author-link=Danny Danon |date=May 21, 2025 |access-date=May 21, 2025}}</ref>

U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the killings via a post on Truth Social, stating: "These horrible DC killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!"<ref name="NYTimesInfo">{{Cite news |last1=Haberman |first1=Maggie |author-link1=Maggie Haberman |last2=Thrush |first2=Glenn |author-link2=Glenn Thrush |last3=Cameron |first3=Chris |date=May 21, 2025 |title=Two Israeli Embassy Staffers Shot and Killed Outside Event in Washington, Officials Say |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/us/politics/israel-embassy-staffers-killed.html |access-date=May 21, 2025 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-22 |title=2 staff members of Israeli embassy killed in shooting near Jewish museum in DC |url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-embassy-jewish-museum-shooting-10307b3b1a2a337e76730736b12ebbcb |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum}} *[https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/ Capital Jewish Museum website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum}} Adas Israel Synagogue Category:Ethnic museums in Washington, D.C. Category:Jewish museums in the United States Category:Buildings and structures in Judiciary Square Adas Israel Synagogue Category:Religious museums in the United States Category:Relocated buildings and structures in Washington, D.C. Adas Israel Synagogue Adas Israel Synagogue Adas Israel Synagogue Category:Vernacular architecture in Washington, D.C. Adas Israel Synagogue