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Washington Hebrew Congregation
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Washington Hebrew Congregation
Washington Hebrew Congregation, abbreviated as WHC, is a Reform Jewish synagogue location at 3935 Macomb Street NW, in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established as a congregation in 1852, the congregation manages two places of worship, the temple in Washington, D.C., completed in 1955, and the Julia Bindeman Suburban Center, a community center, located at 11810 Falls Road, Potomac, Maryland, completed in 1978.
The congregation is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism, and across its two sites, it is one of the largest Reform congregations in the United States, with 2,150 members as of April 2023[update].
Washington Hebrew Congregation was the first Jewish congregation in the nation's capital, formed on April 25, 1852, when 21 German Jewish men gathered at the home of Herman Listberger on Pennsylvania Avenue near 21st Street in Washington, D.C. Solomon Pribram was elected the congregation's first president, and Capt. Jonas P. Levy, a naval commander during the Mexican-American War, made the first recorded monetary contribution.
Concerned that U.S. law did not grant them the right to purchase land for a synagogue, Capt. Jonas P. Levy and other founders of the congregation submitted a petition to the 34th U. S. Congress on February 5, 1856. On June 2, 1856, President Franklin Pierce signed into law An Act for the Benefit of the Hebrew Congregation in the City of Washington, ensuring its right to own property in the District of Columbia. To this day, Washington Hebrew Congregation operates the only synagogue chartered by an act of Congress.
Washington Hebrew grew steadily in membership and in influence; in 1863 it purchased for $8,000.00 the 8th and I Street NW site, a former Methodist church, which had been used by the government as a hospital during the Civil War. It refurbished the building and held a grand dedication ceremony on July 31, 1863. The building was renovated in 1877 and again in 1886 before it was ultimately torn down to make way for a new Washington Hebrew Temple on the same site. Washington Hebrew Congregation started a religious school in 1861 and held its first confirmation class in 1871.
Among the many Washington Hebrew members who fought in the Civil War, Leopold Karpeles (1838–1909) was a flagbearer for the Union Army and received the Medal of Honor in 1870 for his actions in the battles of the Wilderness and North Anna, the first Jew to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Jewish soldiers fought on both sides in the Civil War, and the Washington Hebrew Congregation helped ease wartime suffering. During the war, the women of the Washington Hebrew Congregation raised money for the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which administered wartime relief to soldiers and their families. The congregation's visiting nursing corps ministered to injured Jewish soldiers. Unclaimed bodies of Jewish war dead were buried in the congregation's cemetery.
In the 1850s, WHC purchased land for a small cemetery on what was then Hamilton Road (which later became Alabama Ave. SE), but its size proved to be inadequate. The Temple sold that land in 1885 for $85.00 with a $5.00 commission.
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Washington Hebrew Congregation
Washington Hebrew Congregation, abbreviated as WHC, is a Reform Jewish synagogue location at 3935 Macomb Street NW, in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established as a congregation in 1852, the congregation manages two places of worship, the temple in Washington, D.C., completed in 1955, and the Julia Bindeman Suburban Center, a community center, located at 11810 Falls Road, Potomac, Maryland, completed in 1978.
The congregation is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism, and across its two sites, it is one of the largest Reform congregations in the United States, with 2,150 members as of April 2023[update].
Washington Hebrew Congregation was the first Jewish congregation in the nation's capital, formed on April 25, 1852, when 21 German Jewish men gathered at the home of Herman Listberger on Pennsylvania Avenue near 21st Street in Washington, D.C. Solomon Pribram was elected the congregation's first president, and Capt. Jonas P. Levy, a naval commander during the Mexican-American War, made the first recorded monetary contribution.
Concerned that U.S. law did not grant them the right to purchase land for a synagogue, Capt. Jonas P. Levy and other founders of the congregation submitted a petition to the 34th U. S. Congress on February 5, 1856. On June 2, 1856, President Franklin Pierce signed into law An Act for the Benefit of the Hebrew Congregation in the City of Washington, ensuring its right to own property in the District of Columbia. To this day, Washington Hebrew Congregation operates the only synagogue chartered by an act of Congress.
Washington Hebrew grew steadily in membership and in influence; in 1863 it purchased for $8,000.00 the 8th and I Street NW site, a former Methodist church, which had been used by the government as a hospital during the Civil War. It refurbished the building and held a grand dedication ceremony on July 31, 1863. The building was renovated in 1877 and again in 1886 before it was ultimately torn down to make way for a new Washington Hebrew Temple on the same site. Washington Hebrew Congregation started a religious school in 1861 and held its first confirmation class in 1871.
Among the many Washington Hebrew members who fought in the Civil War, Leopold Karpeles (1838–1909) was a flagbearer for the Union Army and received the Medal of Honor in 1870 for his actions in the battles of the Wilderness and North Anna, the first Jew to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Jewish soldiers fought on both sides in the Civil War, and the Washington Hebrew Congregation helped ease wartime suffering. During the war, the women of the Washington Hebrew Congregation raised money for the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which administered wartime relief to soldiers and their families. The congregation's visiting nursing corps ministered to injured Jewish soldiers. Unclaimed bodies of Jewish war dead were buried in the congregation's cemetery.
In the 1850s, WHC purchased land for a small cemetery on what was then Hamilton Road (which later became Alabama Ave. SE), but its size proved to be inadequate. The Temple sold that land in 1885 for $85.00 with a $5.00 commission.
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