Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum

09/06/2021

Shanah Tovah! As we look forward to the High Holidays, we extend warm wishes to you and your family. Though this year has been challenging in so many ways, new beginnings offer hope for the future and the promise of better days. May your year ahead be filled with peace, happiness and good health.

Image: https://bit.ly/3trH4h6

Shanah Tovah! As we look forward to the High Holidays, we extend warm wishes to you and your family. Though this year has been challenging in so many ways, new beginnings offer hope for the future and the promise of better days. May your year ahead be filled with peace, happiness and good health.

Image: https://bit.ly/3trH4h6

08/10/2021

Taste of History

Tonight: Aug 10, 7:30e/6:30c pm
Taste of History: Wynnewood State Historic Site

Discover Wynnewood State Historic Site, an 1830s mineral springs resort in middle Tennessee. A National Historic Landmark, Wynnewood State Historic Site was home to the Wynne family and the people they enslaved. Originally known as the Castalian Springs Inn, the resort fluctuated in popularity over the years and closed at the beginning of the Civil War and then reopened again in 1899.

Register: https://taste-of-history.ticketleap.com/taste-of-history/

A Taste of History presents a network of virtual history museum tours on Tuesday evenings.

Museums from across the country and the world come together virtually to share a taste of their unique stories! Travel to these places and learn from the comfort of your own home! Join us for tours that are 45-minutes long Tuesday evenings at 7:30/6:30c PM* Topics range from Civil Rights, to Gardens...

08/06/2021

Master teacher, community educator Avi West dies

This week, the DC Jewish community lost one of its most talented and beloved educators, Avi West. He was a dear friend, dedicated teacher, and valued advisor to the Capital Jewish Museum family. Avi had the ability to share his love of Torah and make it relevant and accessible to all. As a member of our Academic Advisory Committee, he helped shape the Museum’s stories. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, locally and abroad. Baruch dayan emet. (Blessed is the one true judge.) https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/master-teacher-community-educator-avi-west-dies/

West was a central figure in the Washington-area Jewish community’s central education institutions for more than 40 years.

07/19/2021

The Whole Spiel

The Whole Spiel: The presence of Jewish names in architecture is a concrete (or brick) example of “we were here” graffiti.

https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/the-whole-spiel/

A few weeks ago my family and I drove to Wisconsin to visit my parents. It’s a long drive, and we stopped a lot along the way. On a hot afternoon in Sandusky, Ohio, we did what we always do when we walk through any American downtown: look up, and play “spot the Jewish name on a building.” It a...

07/10/2021

History happens this weekend at the #NoFearRally. Will you participate? If yes, please share your experience and help grow our collection with your stories and mementos--photos, flags, signs. Donate: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tT7ZxYcQE2Q4HxOCQ-OV1FO_92f7z7pvov_OVzPP08g/viewform?edit_requested=true%20_blank

Image: Rally-goers attending the No Fear antisemitism rally, Jan 2020, with one participant holding a sign that reads, "Stop Antisemitism Now." Source: nofear.combatantisemitism.or

History happens this weekend at the #NoFearRally. Will you participate? If yes, please share your experience and help grow our collection with your stories and mementos--photos, flags, signs. Donate: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tT7ZxYcQE2Q4HxOCQ-OV1FO_92f7z7pvov_OVzPP08g/viewform?edit_requested=true%20_blank

Image: Rally-goers attending the No Fear antisemitism rally, Jan 2020, with one participant holding a sign that reads, "Stop Antisemitism Now." Source: nofear.combatantisemitism.or

06/30/2021

📅💻💼 Are you an experienced educator who loves storytelling, museums and audience engagement? We're hiring: capitaljewishmuseum.org/jobs/ 📅💻💼

📅💻💼 Are you an experienced educator who loves storytelling, museums and audience engagement? We're hiring: capitaljewishmuseum.org/jobs/ 📅💻💼

06/28/2021

This sash was awarded to Larry Komrower, crowned the 2019 winner of the Mr. Nice Jewish Boys Pageant. Since 2013 (nonconsecutively), Nice Jewish Boys DC (NJB) hosts the Mr. Nice Jewish Boy Pageant as an annual fundraiser for various local and national LGBTQ and Jewish LGBTQ organizations. NJB is an all volunteer led social organization serving gay, bis*xual, and transgender Jewish men in their 20's and 30's in Washington, D.C. Established in 2005, NJB hosts monthly happy hours, quarterly Shabbat dinners, an annual Shabbaton retreat in the Shenandoah Mountains, organizes the Stonewall Kickball 'Matzo Balls' team, and various events and programs throughout the year. Click the images for further descriptions.

In honor of Pride Month, we have been sharing stories of the local Jewish LGBTQ community. We are working to fill gaps in the collection to reflect the community we represent, including greater gender and racial diversity within our LGBTQ Jewish stories. To help us in this effort, read more about donating archival materials by visiting https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/digitalcollecting/

06/22/2021

Tonight's Taste of History tour is with Museum at Eldridge Street. Virtually explore the 1887-built Eldridge Street Synagogue, the first sacred site in America built by Eastern European Jewish immigrants. This magnificent National Historic Landmark has been beautifully restored and today is a touchstone to New York City’s Lower East Side immigrant experience. On you this, you’ll travel back in time to when the Statue of Liberty greeted new Americans and pushcarts crowded the streets.

Register Here: https://bit.ly/tasteofhistorytours

Tonight's Taste of History tour is with Museum at Eldridge Street. Virtually explore the 1887-built Eldridge Street Synagogue, the first sacred site in America built by Eastern European Jewish immigrants. This magnificent National Historic Landmark has been beautifully restored and today is a touchstone to New York City’s Lower East Side immigrant experience. On you this, you’ll travel back in time to when the Statue of Liberty greeted new Americans and pushcarts crowded the streets.

Register Here: https://bit.ly/tasteofhistorytours

06/21/2021

Jeff Burka and Marc Bernstein stand under the chuppah (wedding canopy) in the sanctuary of the historic synagogue. Theirs was the first same-s*x wedding held in the 1876 building, the first purpose-built synagogue in our nation’s capital. The couple was married by Rabbi Toby Manewith of Bet Mishpachah, the LGBTQ synagogue of Washington where the couple first met ten years prior. They married just three months after the District of Columbia passed the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act, permitting same s*x marriages. (June 13, 2010 Photograph by Stephen J. Boitano, Gift of Jeff Burka and Marc Bernstein)

In honor of Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of the local Jewish LGBTQ community. We are working to fill gaps in the collection to reflect the community we represent, including greater gender and racial diversity within our LGBTQ Jewish stories. To help us in this effort, read more about donating archival materials by visiting https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/digitalcollecting/

Jeff Burka and Marc Bernstein stand under the chuppah (wedding canopy) in the sanctuary of the historic synagogue. Theirs was the first same-s*x wedding held in the 1876 building, the first purpose-built synagogue in our nation’s capital. The couple was married by Rabbi Toby Manewith of Bet Mishpachah, the LGBTQ synagogue of Washington where the couple first met ten years prior. They married just three months after the District of Columbia passed the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act, permitting same s*x marriages. (June 13, 2010 Photograph by Stephen J. Boitano, Gift of Jeff Burka and Marc Bernstein)

In honor of Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of the local Jewish LGBTQ community. We are working to fill gaps in the collection to reflect the community we represent, including greater gender and racial diversity within our LGBTQ Jewish stories. To help us in this effort, read more about donating archival materials by visiting https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/digitalcollecting/

06/18/2021

In the 1980's and early 1990's, local Jewish photographer Lloyd Wolf was hired to make images for a series of HIV/AIDS awareness & safer s*x posters. The ads were part of a campaign created by the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington DC during the height of the AIDS epidemic. The series of sixteen posters from this campaign are now part of the museum collection.

In honor of Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of the local Jewish LGBTQ community. We are working to fill gaps in the collection to reflect the community we represent, including greater gender and racial diversity within our LGBTQ Jewish stories. To help us in this effort, read more about donating archival materials by visiting https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/digitalcollecting/

Posters created by art director Larry Roser and copywriter Elizabeth Naab of the Naab/Roser Agency. Gift of Lloyd Wolf.

06/14/2021

The first edition of Shavat va-Yinafash, the siddur published by Bet Mishpachah, the LGBTQ synagogue of Washington, DC. Created in 1991, the congregation believes this siddur is the first to be gender neutral in its reference to God in English and gender inclusive in its reference to people, both in Hebrew and in English. The siddur was donated by one of the congregation's early members, Joseph (Joe) Pomper.

In honor of Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of the local Jewish LGBTQ community. We are working to fill gaps in the collection to reflect the community we represent, including greater gender and racial diversity within our LGBTQ Jewish stories. To help us in this effort, read more about donating archival materials by visiting https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/digitalcollecting/

The first edition of Shavat va-Yinafash, the siddur published by Bet Mishpachah, the LGBTQ synagogue of Washington, DC. Created in 1991, the congregation believes this siddur is the first to be gender neutral in its reference to God in English and gender inclusive in its reference to people, both in Hebrew and in English. The siddur was donated by one of the congregation's early members, Joseph (Joe) Pomper.

In honor of Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of the local Jewish LGBTQ community. We are working to fill gaps in the collection to reflect the community we represent, including greater gender and racial diversity within our LGBTQ Jewish stories. To help us in this effort, read more about donating archival materials by visiting https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/digitalcollecting/

06/09/2021

It is the historic Synagogue's 145th birthday! Celebrate and read more in our newest blog post.

https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/the-whole-spiel/

It is the historic Synagogue's 145th birthday! Celebrate and read more in our newest blog post.

https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/the-whole-spiel/

06/07/2021

David M. Green was an AIDS activist in Washington, DC. After his diagnosis in 1986, David left his job at the Library of Congress to take up a new career as an educator about AIDS and an advocate and activist on behalf of people with AIDS (PWA). Specifically, David spoke with local, regional, and national Jewish groups at a time where much of the institutional Jewish community was ignoring or even vilifying PWA and the LGBTQ community.

David’s partner, Martin F. Less, donated documents, photographs, protest buttons, and other materials relating to David’s work and the life they shared together. One of those documents was an original draft of an article David had written for a local publication. He writes, “There can be no doubt that the human spirit will prevail over this plague. Even if we are destroyed physically by it, in death there is not necessarily defeat.” David M. Green finished his work on this article during the last week of November, 1989. He died of complications related to AIDS just two weeks later on December 14th.

In honor of Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of the local Jewish LGBTQ community. We are working to fill gaps in the collection to reflect the community we represent, including greater gender and racial diversity within our LGBTQ Jewish stories. To help us in this effort, read more about donating archival materials by visiting https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/digitalcollecting/

06/01/2021

Don't forget to register for this week's installation of the Taste of History tours with the RCMP Heritage Centre

Join us tonight 7:30est/630C/530 as we participate as the only Canadian stop on the Taste of History World Tour

LHS Master page:https://www.lombardhistory.org/tasteofhistory

Register: https://taste-of-history.ticketleap.com/taste-of-history/

Donation Link: https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=KzZJuP-DkLaB1JRNkVFWAX9F8mFJ07ljST3GmNA6hWAYjL53hfKkzHKg59cshq00wzTfRMwL3JyX9aNU

The next tour June 8th: Travel to the crossroads of two of the Oldest American Highways - Route 66 and the LIncoln Highway - to visit the Joliet Area Historical Museum. On our virtual tour, you’ll get to see how people lived, worked, traveled, and built the foundation for today’s thriving city. We’ll cover everything from the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal to the Moon Landing!
#rcmphc #regina #worldtour #tasteofhistory #virtualtours #theworldcomingtogether

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Rejoignez-nous ce soir à 19h30EST/ 17h30 MT alors que nous participons en tant que le seul arrêt canadien à la tournée mondiale taste of history

LHS Page https://www.lombardhistory.org/tasteofhistory

Registre https://taste-of-history.ticketleap.com/taste-of-history/

La donation https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=KzZJuP-DkLaB1JRNkVFWAX9F8mFJ07ljST3GmNA6hWAYjL53hfKkzHKg59cshq00wzTfRMwL3JyX9aNU

La prochaine tournée: Voyagez au carrefour de deux des autoroutes les plus anciennes de l’Amérique – la route 66 et la route Lincoln – et visitez le Joliet Area Historical Museum. Faites la visite virtuelle pour voir comment les gens vivaient, travaillaient et voyageaient à l’époque et comment ils ont jeté les fondations de la ville prospère d’aujourd’hui. Nous vous ferons un véritable voyage dans le temps, de la construction du canal d’Illinois et de Michigan, jusqu’à l’atterrissage sur la Lune!

05/30/2021

Christian Heurich ( Heurich House Museum ) and Simon Wolf: friends, colleagues, immigrants. They served on boards together, encouraged each other on philanthropic gifts, and we can only imagine the steins of beer they toasted together. See this May 30 tribute to Simon from Christian on Simon's 70th Birthday:

All month long, we will be celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month by sharing objects in our collection from past dates in May as we highlight #oursharedheritage.

Christian Heurich ( Heurich House Museum ) and Simon Wolf: friends, colleagues, immigrants. They served on boards together, encouraged each other on philanthropic gifts, and we can only imagine the steins of beer they toasted together. See this May 30 tribute to Simon from Christian on Simon's 70th Birthday:

All month long, we will be celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month by sharing objects in our collection from past dates in May as we highlight #oursharedheritage.

05/29/2021

This program documents the May 29, 1982 b'nai mitzvah of two Russian emigrants, Edward Kudlis and Gregory Skurkovish. The b'nai mitzvah took place at Washington Hebrew Congregation and was sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women, Jewish Social Service Agency and United Jewish Appeal. Washington Hebrew Congregation National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)

All month long, we will be celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month by sharing objects in our collection from past dates in May as we highlight #oursharedheritage.

This program documents the May 29, 1982 b'nai mitzvah of two Russian emigrants, Edward Kudlis and Gregory Skurkovish. The b'nai mitzvah took place at Washington Hebrew Congregation and was sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women, Jewish Social Service Agency and United Jewish Appeal. Washington Hebrew Congregation National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)

All month long, we will be celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month by sharing objects in our collection from past dates in May as we highlight #oursharedheritage.

05/28/2021

This mid 1900's interior photo showing a confirmation class sitting on the bima of Adas Israel's second building was used to help inform the restoriation of the historic building in the 21st century, now known as Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. Adas Israel Congregation - Washington, DC Sixth & I

All month long, we will be celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month by sharing objects in our collection from past dates in May as we highlight #oursharedheritage.

This mid 1900's interior photo showing a confirmation class sitting on the bima of Adas Israel's second building was used to help inform the restoriation of the historic building in the 21st century, now known as Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. Adas Israel Congregation - Washington, DC Sixth & I

All month long, we will be celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month by sharing objects in our collection from past dates in May as we highlight #oursharedheritage.