The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., reopened on Thursday with nine speakers, more than 100 invited guests and two people on everybody’s minds.
Giant photographs of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, greeted the speakers and guests. A lone gunman, who shot the couple to death outside the museum on May 21, told police that “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” per court documents.
After going through tight security, with uniformed guards on duty, visitors wanded and bags searched, the audience sat to a haunting version of “Oseh Shalom” sung by Cantor Ze’evi Tovlev of Temple Shalom, a Reform congregation in Chevy Chase, Md. At one point, an audience member started singing a more familiar version of the song, which calls for peace, and other guests and the cantor joined in.
Chris Wolf, president of the museum’s board of directors, said that the institution will dedicate its future work to Lischinsky and Milgrim, and that its reopening was a searing response to those who would harm Jews.
“We will not be deterred from this vital work,” Wolf told the audience. “It is an act of resilience. It is a declaration that we will not allow hate to silence our commitment.”
Speakers balanced eulogies for the slain couple, who were planning to get engaged next week in Jerusalem, with condemnations of last week’s antisemitic attack and calls for peace and an end to Jew-hatred.
“It is not up to the Jewish community to say, ‘support us,’” said Muriel Bowser, the D.C. mayor, who drew criticism for skipping a unity and solidarity gathering the prior night.
“It is up to us to denounce antisemitism in all forms,” Bowser told the audience.
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Adas Israel, a large Conservative shul in Washington, called the museum’s reopening “exactly what our city, our country and our world needs to keep telling our stories.”
Clergy from other faiths also addressed the audience.
“We’re talking about the same God for all of us,” said Imam Talib Shareef, president of the Masjid Muhammad mosque.
Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, offered a prayer. “May we all do our part to rid our communities of hatred and violence,” she said. “Create sanctuaries of peace and safety.”
Rev. Thomas Bowen, of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, called the museum reopening “a defiant act of hope.”
“Hate has no place in Washington,” he said. “This museum stands today as more than bricks and glass. It’s a reminder that history must be remembered, that stories must be told, and that communities must be protected.”
There were also warnings at the event about the rise of Jew-hatred since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We cannot separate the violence from the rhetoric that fuels hate and conspiracies against Jews,” said Sue Stolov, vice president of AJC Washington, who left the American Jewish Committee reception at the museum shortly before Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot.
“This is what ‘globalize the intifada’ means,” she told attendees. “It means that you or you or you could get shot and killed leaving this building right now, because you are simply in a Jewish institution.”
Beatrice Gurwitz, the museum’s executive director, said that there are many stories yet to tell. “We always hope that the stories we tell in this museum will inspire visitors,” she said. “Last week’s antisemitic attack cannot be our last chapter.”
