Chris Wolf is a Jewish fourth-generation Washingtonian with a love for D.C. history. So, it’s fitting that he was appointed as president of the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum’s board of directors in the nation’s capital.
This latest development is a “retirement career” for the Bethesda native, who practiced law in Washington, D.C., for nearly four decades. Wolf attended the Capital Jewish Museum’s topping out ceremony a few years before its June 2023 opening and later became a board member.
He served on the executive committee, actively fundraised and helped co-chair CJM’s inaugural gala at the Embassy of France in September 2024.
“I was very, very involved in thinking about the future of the organization,” Wolf said, adding that he had been on the search committee that resulted in CJM’s hiring of Executive Director Beatrice Gurwitz. “So the nominating committee reached out to me and asked if I would consider being chair, and I said I’d be honored and delighted.”
Wolf has been involved with the Anti-Defamation League for the past 37 years, having served as a founding national board member in 2018 and chaired ADL’s local board in the 1990s. He founded The Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank, and co-authored “Viral Hate,” a book exposing the hateful vitriol spreading across the internet.
Wolf is also no stranger to the arts, as a longtime board member of many organizations including the National Symphony Orchestra Association of Washington, D.C., the DC History Center, Young Concert Artists Inc. and WETA.
Growing up, Wolf’s father took him to the Smithsonian museums. Wolf had a penchant for learning local history, particularly that of his own family and other Jewish families. His great-grandfather, Max Weyl, was a well-known artist who came to D.C. in 1861. Wolf’s study of Weyl’s history and collection of his artwork over four decades led Wolf to study the history of Jewish Washington — Weyl’s landscape painting of Rock Creek Park is on display at CJM along with the artist’s story in the main exhibit.
“I think it’s important for every generation to have an appreciation of their history and the history of the city and the evolution of the Jewish presence in the city,” Wolf said. “That background helps you appreciate where you are and what we have in this city.”
He gained that appreciation from his parents, both locals. Wolf’s mother was raised in a house built by her grandfather in D.C., just like her mother before her. Wolf’s father grew up on Woodley Road in Northwest D.C. The two would regale him with stories about D.C.’s “very small Jewish community.”
But Wolf said CJM is not just for Jewish community members.
“Frankly, I think our museum serves a purpose that I didn’t anticipate when I joined the board,” Wolf said, noting the “explosion” of antisemitism that has occurred since Oct. 7, 2023. “I like to think of the Museum as an antidote to antisemitism because we celebrate the contributions of Jews in Washington.
“And when people see what Jewish merchants and educators, politicians, scientists, doctors and others have brought to the city, they will understand that Jews should not be stigmatized, singled out [by] any kind of discrimination; that they are equal citizens who contribute so much to the life of the city and of the community.”
He quoted Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who said the best remedy to hate speech is “more speech.”
“The Museum is a form of counterspeech by delivering the histories of Jews in 1790 when the first Jewish families came to Washington,” Wolf said.
Members of the CJM board are approaching their first strategic planning process alongside CJM staff to ensure that the Museum’s mission aligns with the contemporary, he said.
“I am excited to embark on a strategic planning process,” Wolf said. “That effort likely will result in a refined mission to match our times and likely will affect programming as well as future exhibits, including our second floor main exhibit and special exhibits to come.”
Wolf, who said his favorite aspect of the job is working with Gurwitz, looks forward to these changes. He is particularly excited to see the new exhibition, LGBTJews in the Federal City, set to open May 16.
“I’m an openly gay man; I have a husband. We’ve been married for 15 years, together for 27 years,” Wolf said. “I’m very proud that [the exhibit is] happening on my watch.”
Wolf and his husband, Jim Beller, both D.C. residents, are financial sponsors of the exhibit, which was developed independently of Wolf or Wolf’s input.
“I think that’s gonna be an exciting exhibit to have,” Wolf said. “We’ll show a part of the Jewish community that probably hasn’t had much attention.”
