The History Behind the Capital Jewish Museum

The Capital Jewish Museum is opening this Friday at the corner of Third & F streets Northwest. We got a sneak peek of the new museum and the wild history behind its home.

Built in 1876, the Adas Israel synagogue building was the first of its kind in D.C. The congregation met in rented spaces for years until they raised enough money to build the synagogue at Sixth and G Streets Northwest.

In time, the congregation moved to a larger space, and the historic building has been around the block, literally and figuratively. It’s housed Christian congregations, a bicycle shop, a barber shop, a barbecue restaurant, and a dentist’s office.

They also physically disconnected the second and third floors from the foundation, stacked them onto a metal frame, and rolled the building down G Street Northwest three times. The most recent move was four years ago, when it became part of the Capital Jewish Museum.

The museum explores the Jewish experience in D.C. Its curator Sarah Leavitt says they began collecting oral histories for the museum back in 2013. She highly recommends checking out the interactive map room to see what Jewish history took place on your D.C. block!

The museum is free and open Wednesday - Sunday. It’s also having a kick-off party on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. with food and drinks from its historic cookbooks.

This segment was written by Susannah Broun, production assistant at City Cast DC.