The original structure is the oldest surviving synagogue building in Washington, D.C., and today is known as the Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum.

These men and women sought a worship service more akin to the one they remembered from Europe, objecting to their former congregation's move toward Reform Judaism.

[4] Today, Adas Israel “aspires to perpetuate Judaism, to enrich the lives of our members to celebrate Conservative Judaism at its creative best, and to bring Jews closer to God.” Adas Israel is a congregation focused on social consciousness and Jewish activism, sponsoring many community service projects.

Bat and Bar mitzvot, weddings, the High Holidays, Purim plays, and Passover celebrations all occasioned public notice.

[citation needed] When President William McKinley was shot and killed by an assassin in Buffalo in 1901, the congregation convened a special service in his memory.

[5] In 1963 Adas Israel was the first synagogue to be addressed by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[4] President Lyndon Johnson attended a Thanksgiving Day service following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, in 1963.

That night, Johnson paraphrased Rabinowitz's words in a nationally televised address, speaking of how blessings can come from evil situations.

[citation needed] Following Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995, Vice President Al Gore and members of the Cabinet and Supreme Court attended a memorial service at Adas Israel.

After years of planning and fundraising, the congregation completed and dedicated its first synagogue building just in time for the nation's Centennial celebration—providing a strong and symbolic presence for Jewish immigrants.

The synagogue stood at the corner of 6th and G Streets, NW, in the heart of the city's residential and commercial center, where many of the congregants lived and worked.

The original building was sold to Stephen Gatti, an Italian fruit dealer and real estate investor who lived a block away.

During the course of the next 60 years, the former synagogue's first floor was divided into retail spaces and housed a bicycle shop, barber, Joseph Funger's grocery store, Anthony Litteri's delicatessen, and other businesses.

Architect Louis Levi of Baltimore designed the building in the Moorish style that was popular for synagogue architecture at the time.

Three real estate developers, Shelton Zuckerman, Abe Pollin, and Douglas Jemal, placed a winning bid of $5 million on the property.

Today, the former Adas Israel building is known as the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue and serves as a hub of religious and cultural Jewish life for young professionals in Washington.

The space also hosts many popular book talks and concerts by locally and nationally recognized authors and performers each year.

The congregation, led by longtime President Joseph Wilner, built a large new facility at Connecticut Avenue and Quebec Street, NW, in the Cleveland Park neighborhood, in 1951.

Architects Frank Grad and Sons designed the building in a style favored by many synagogues built after the Second World War: clean lines, large scale, and bright interiors.

The new Adas Israel, which cost nearly $1.3 million, included a 300-seat chapel, two social auditoriums, 14 classrooms and a 1,500-seat sanctuary with a balcony, a hidden choir loft, an organ, an Ark framed in black onyx and marble, and five heavy bronze doors which opened onto a lobby decorated in red marble that led to a large, open plaza overlooking the intersection.

Adas Israel's second cantor, Jacob Voorsanger, attended the Jewish Theological Seminary in Amsterdam before immigrating to the United States in 1873.

[citation needed] During the early years, the congregation asked clergy to fill multiple duties, including as teachers and even as shochets (ritual butcher).

[citation needed] In 1898, Adas Israel hired Morris Mandel, who had been in the third graduating class of the Jewish Theological Seminary, as its first rabbi.

In response to the changing congregation, which had many members newly arrived from Eastern Europe who did not speak English, he delivered sermons in Yiddish.

Arthur Welsh, the United States' first Jewish aviator and an employee of the Wright brothers, was married at Adas Israel in 1907.

This rapid growth reflected the influx of Jews into Washington to work for the federal government during the New Deal, World War II, and beyond.

[citation needed] By 1872, before the synagogue was built, the young Adas Israel Congregation held religious classes for boys and girls for two hours in the afternoon, several times a week.

In 1973 the Congregation began the short-lived Tel Shalom summer camp in West Virginia for fourth to tenth graders.

The Melvin Gelman Religious School teaches students in grades K–12, with Ma'a lot DC allowing teenagers to continue studying following their bar and bat mitzvahs.

Newspaper articles provide accounts of Sisterhood activities—from lectures and music performances to strawberry fairs and picnics that raised money for the congregation.

Three Adas Israel members, Max Goldberg, Jacob Lish, and Mark Berlin, have served as national Men's Club presidents.