Current Exhibition
What is Jewish Washington?
Step into history—a 19th-century synagogue—and explore the diverse Jewish communities of DC and the suburbs of Maryland and Northern Virginia, from 1790 through today. The chronological presentation features photographs, objects, stories and excerpts from oral histories—most drawn from the Museum’s collection. Familiar museum tools—timelines, maps, and demographic statistics—place the history of
Jewish Washington in the wider context of DC and US history.
What is Jewish Washington? introduces a variety of themes that appear throughout the Museum: immigration, assimilation, living as a minority, antisemitism, small business ownership, real estate development, government service, a working-to-middle-class trajectory, connection to Israel, suburbanization and white flight, affinity for the Civil Rights movement, and much more.
An interactive model of the historic synagogue invites visitors to open doors and peek through windows to learn the history of the building and its many uses over time.
The exhibition is organized into the following sections:
1790-1852: Not Quite a Minyan
- A Small, Dispersed Community
- First Jewish Families
1852-1876: A Community Grows in Wartime
- The Civil War
- The First Synagogues
1876-1921: Eastern Europeans Arrive
- Jewish Shopkeepers and Artisans
- Eastern Europeans
- The Great War
1921-1948: Immigrants Settle in; New Dealers Come to Work
- Grocers
- New Deal
- Restrictive Covenants
- World Affairs
1948-1969: A Right to the City
- Maryland Suburbs
- Desegregation
- Youth Culture
- From Agency to Embassy
1969-1997: Maryland and Virginia Take the Stage
- Maryland & Virginia
- Israel
- Expanding Community
- The National Stage
1997-2023: Jews in a Capital Metropolis
- The Return of the JCC
- 21st Century Community
- From Home Rule to Home Plate
Photos from the Galleries
Visitors in What is Jewish Washington exhibition at the Capital Jewish Museum, Fall 2024. Alex Fradkin Photography
A visitor looks at photos and video of the historic synagogue in this interactive model., in the exhibition What is Jewish Washington. Chris Ferenzi Photography
Guests examine historic documents in the exhibition What is Jewish Washington. Chris Ferenzi Photography
What is Jewish Washington exhibition gallery, Summer 2023.
Exhibition planning began in 2018 with Evidence Design along with a group of scholars and museum professionals. The Design Minds, Inc. completed the project in 2022-23.