Washington Hebrew Congregation Informations

Washington Hebrew Congregation is a Jewish congregation in Washington, D.C.

Washington Hebrew Congregation was formed on April 25, 1852, in Washington, D.C., by twenty-one members.

Solomon Pribram was elected the first president. By 1854, there were forty-two members. On December 13, 1855, at the thirty-fourth session of the United States Congress, a special act was passed, which provided that

The congregation grew steadily in membership and in influence; in 1863 it moved to the site of a former Methodist church, which had been used by the government as a hospital during the Civil War.

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.

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 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.

One prominent leader was Uriah P. Levy, the first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy.

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 the summer of 1966, a group of young Jewish activists urged the synagogue's rabbi, Rabbi Norman Gerstenfeld, to denounce a white Jewish landlord named Allie Freed for engaging in racist housing practices against African-Americans. After Rabbi Gerstenfeld refused to denounce Freed, Jewish members of ACCESS (Action Coordinating Committee to End Segregation in the Suburbs) leafleted the congregation during Yom Kippur in 1966 and 1967. They were condemned by Jason R. Silverman of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith for protesting on Yom Kippur. In light of this, Jewish activists founded Jews for Urban Justice in order to campaign against anti-black racism within white Jewish communities.

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 2,781 members reported on the Union for Reform Judaism database as of 2012.

On August 15, 2018 a report was made by a parent to the temple that included allegations that an employee at the Macomb Street Edlavitch-Tyser Early Childhood Center may have engaged in inappropriate conduct involving one or more children. On August 19, 2018, the synagogue sent a letter to the community stating:

On Tuesday, April 16, 2019 a suit was announced that multiple families were suing Washington Hebrew, alleging that the synagogue’s preschool and its director ignored warning signs of sexual abuse happening on the campus over a two-year period.

At the center of the civil suit is Deborah “D.J.” Schneider Jensen, who is accused of hiring a male teacher and ignoring reports of concern that he was preying on eight 3- and 4-year-old boys and girls.

The local media in Burlington, Vermont also picked up the story, as the accused had spent a significant portion of his adult life living in the area.

On April 18, 2019, just two days after the announcement of the civil suit, the office of the DC Attorney General stated that it had opened a criminal investigation into Washington Hebrew's ET-ECC.

The attorney general’s office has criminal authority over the District’s child-care licensing regulations. The office also enforces the city’s mandatory reporting laws, which state that school officials, teachers and other workers who care for children are legally obligated to report suspicions of sexual abuse to government officials.

On April 18, 2019, the same day the new criminal investigation was launch, separately, The Office of the State Superintendent of Education confirmed that it had also opened a probe.

On June 3, 2019, a cease-and desist letter was sent by the District of Columbia's Office of the State Superintendent of Education, with an amended copy following on June 5, 2019. It was addressed to Steven Jacober, executive director of Washington Hebrew Congregation.

According to the letter, the synagogue's early childhood center failed to ensure the safety of children in its care, to properly supervise children and staff and did not report the alleged abuse to education officials, as required by law.

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