Telling stories of the past in three dimensions has given a University of Richmond history professor the opportunity to practice “tikkun olam,” a Jewish concept where people are obligated to repair the world.

Eric Yellin has played an important role in growing and shaping the new Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. Yellin first shared his federal government and African American history expertise and then drew on his own Jewish heritage. Ultimately tapped as a visiting curator, Yellin tied together different histories to present the Jewish experience in Greater Washington.

The Capital Jewish Museum builds from the collection of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, founded in the 1960s to rescue D.C.’s first purpose-built synagogue. Moved and rescued twice, that synagogue now sits within the museum’s glass-and-steel structure at 575 3rd Street, N.W.

Yellin supported the development of the content and design and co-wrote the copy for the core exhibitions — What is Jewish Washington? and Connect. Reflect. Act. From exploring the lives and legacies of well-known national figures like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and culinary author and historian Michael Twitty, to examining painful moments in local history related to race and racism, the museum provides a comprehensive look at the story of Jews in Washington, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. 

Thirty-year museum veteran and museum curator Sarah Leavitt partnered with Yellin to rewrite his early script into museum-style captions. Those core exhibitions deliver a chronological history and detail Jewish life across the region.

“The story of Jews in D.C. is a different story than in a lot of other cities,” Yellin said. “It’s a story not a lot of people know, and this museum opens up that narrative to more people.”

By culling through society archives and conducting new research, Yellin detailed the local Jewish community over time. The New Deal attracted Jews with advanced degrees, who couldn’t get jobs elsewhere in law firms or universities. Instead, they joined the federal government, which was on a hiring spree.

“Thousands of Jews came to Washington to take up jobs as everything from file clerks and secretaries to economists and presidential advisors,” he said, while others arrived to open businesses to serve that workforce.

Jewish families began migrating to the suburbs but remained a minority community at the crossroads of American democracy. “What does it mean to live in this city where so many national questions get adjudicated, argued, spoken about and protested? This is a place where Americans come to practice and struggle for democracy,” Yellin said of the second exhibition.

“Jews in the Washington area have enjoyed proximity to power and access to social mobility and, at times, have had to face down antisemitism locally and on the national stage,” said Yellin. “Having a Jewish museum in the nation’s capital is critical to people knowing this complex history.”