Washington Hebrew Congregation (WHC) is a Reform Jewish synagogue in Washington, D.C. Washington Hebrew Congregation is currently a member of the Union for Reform Judaism. It is one of the largest Reform congregations in the United States, with 2,150 members reported on the Union for Reform Judaism database as of 2023.
History
Founding
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.
WHC in the Civil War
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.
WHC Builds a Jewish 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.
WHC purchased 3 acres of land in October 1878 on Alabama Ave. SE for $450. That is equivalent to $13,410.00 in today's money (2023). In July 1889, the Temple purchased an additional 4 acres adjoining this property.
The two indentures (deeds) are seen in the adjacent document. The first indenture tells us of the history of who previously owned the land, where it is, and that it is free and clear and able to be purchased without concern. The second indenture tells us that WHC trustees purchased the 3 acres from a George and Josephine Mason for $450.00 in October 1878.
Growth and expansion
From 1897 to 1954, the congregation met at 816 Eighth Street NW, in a building designed by Washington architects Louis F. Stutz and Frank W. Pease. The cornerstone of this building was laid on September 16, 1897, by President William McKinley. This building was sold to New Hope Baptist Church (later Greater New Hope Baptist Church) in March 1954.
By 1905, the First Washington Hebrew Congregation was the only Reform congregation in the District of Columbia, with a membership of 350, and a religious school attended by 200 children.
Adas Israel Congregation, with Isaac Stampel as hazzan, was founded in 1869 by 69 members of the Washington Hebrew Congregation who objected to the Reform tendencies of the old congregation.
In 1952, President Harry S. Truman laid the cornerstone of the congregation's current home on Macomb Street NW, which was dedicated on May 6, 1955, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
By the 1970s, in order to meet the needs of a growing congregation and as members moved out of the District to the suburbs, an additional facility was built. The Julia Bindeman Suburban Center in Potomac, Maryland opened in 1978.