At Capital Jewish Museum, it’s the contradictions that fuel survival

The exhibit "LGBTJews in the Federal City" is seen at the Capital Jewish Museum on Thursday ahead of the museum's reopening following the killing of two Israeli Embassy staff members. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

On the day when a gunman shot and killed Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the Capital Jewish Museum and shouted “free, free Palestine,” the museum opened a new exhibit, “LGBTJews in the Federal City,” which asks visitors why Washington’s Jews rejected, then later embraced, their own gay community.

On the day the museum reopened last week following a period of mourning and the ritual tightening of visible security measures, I visited the new exhibit. That morning, the museum had been full of public officials, faith leaders and TV cameras — all gathered to promise prayers and