Touro Synagogue#Annual recitation of the Washington–Seixas letter on religious pluralism

{{short description|Historic synagogue in Rhode Island, United States}}

{{About|the synagogue in Rhode Island|the synagogue in New Orleans|Touro Synagogue (New Orleans)}}

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| name = Touro Synagogue National Historic Site

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The Touro Synagogue is a synagogue built in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island. The building has been occupied by several different congregations over the years. The current occupant is known as Congregation Ahavath Israel ({{langx|he|ק״ק אהבת ישראל}}). As the only surviving synagogue building in the U.S. dating to the colonial era, it is the oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States and North America.{{cite journal |author=Gordon, Mark W. |title=Rediscovering Jewish Infrastructure: Update on United States Nineteenth Century Synagogues |journal=American Jewish History |volume=84 |number=1 |year=1996 |pages=11–27 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_jewish_history/v084/84.1gordon.html |edition=[2019 update }}Buescher, John. "[http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/20494 Jewish Immigration During the Revolutionary War]." [http://www.teachinghistory.org Teachinghistory.org], accessed September 25, 2011.{{efn|The oldest synagogue in continuous use on U.S. soil as a whole is St. Thomas Synagogue in the U.S. Virgin Islands.}} In 1946, it was declared a National Historic Site.{{cite news|url=http://www.newportri.com/newportdailynews/news/page_one/touro-celebrates-milestone/article_ad8f3aec-f5c4-5cc1-aaab-2c631b7c6785.html|title=Touro celebrates milestone|last=Sean Flynn|date=December 1, 2013|work=The Newport Daily News|access-date=18 December 2013}}

Touro Synagogue represents a profound symbol of religious freedom, a cornerstone of Rhode Island’s founding principles under Roger Williams.{{Cite web |title=Roger Williams, Religious Freedom, and a Jewish Legacy (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/rogerwilliamshahn.htm |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}} Rhode Island was established as a haven for those seeking freedom of conscience, and the synagogue’s existence is a testament to the colony’s early commitment to religious tolerance.{{Cite web |last=Russo |first=Amy |title=RI's Touro Synagogue, icon of religious liberty, has a lot to teach you during tours |url=https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/columns/2022/05/06/amy-rhode-newport-ri-historic-touro-synagogue-icon-religious-liberty/7366555001/ |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=The Providence Journal |language=en-US}} The first congregation was composed of Sephardic Jews, believed to have migrated from the West Indies, where they had been part of the thriving trade networks connecting Dutch and English colonies. They followed the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish liturgy and customs, preserving their distinct cultural and religious heritage.

Amid the upheaval of the late 18th century, when threats of war loomed, the congregation entrusted the synagogue’s deed and Torah scrolls to New York's Congregation Shearith Israel for safekeeping. Over time, the demographic shifted, and by the late 19th century, the congregation became predominantly Ashkenazi, reflecting the broader changes in Jewish immigration patterns to the United States. The synagogue was built by Aaron Lopez and numerous other ethnic Jews that were involved in the slave trade. They owned ships, like Aaron Lopez, who owned 150 ships for four decades.

In recent years, Touro Synagogue became the subject of a legal dispute over its ownership. In 2012, the Newport congregation sought to sell artifacts to finance the building's restoration, leading to a court case with Congregation Shearith Israel. In 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled in favor of the New York congregation, a decision that was left standing when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

History

File:Touro Synagogue National Historic Site TOSY1085.jpg

Touro Synagogue was designed by Peter Harrison, a noted British architect, immigrant to British America, and Rhode Island resident. It is considered his most notable work. The interior is flanked by a series of twelve Ionic columns supporting balconies, which signify the twelve tribes of ancient Israel, and each column is carved from a single tree.{{Cite web|url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/image/the-touro-synagogue-newport-rhode-island-usa-model-permanent-exhibition|title=Hallelujah! Assemble, Pray, Study – Synagogues Past and Present|website=Beit Hatfutsot}} The building is oriented to face east toward Jerusalem. The ark containing the Torah is on the east wall; above it is a mural representing the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, which was painted by Newport artist Benjamin Howland.

Touro Synagogue's original congregation was Shearith Israel, founded in 1654, but they fled the original building during the American Revolutionary War.{{Cite web |title=Congregation Jeshuat Israel v. Congregation Shearith Israel |url=https://becketfund.org/case/congregation-jeshuat-israel-v-congregation-shearith-israel/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Becket |language=en-US}} The Jeshuat Israel congregation dates to 1658, when 15 Spanish and Portuguese Jewish families arrived, probably from the Dutch or British West Indies. Many settled near Easton's Point.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}

The new Touro Synagogue building was formally dedicated on 2 December 1763 by the Jeshuat Israel congregation.{{Cite web |last=Wizevich |first=Eli |title=The Little-Known Story Behind the Oldest Surviving Synagogue in America |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-little-known-story-behind-the-oldest-surviving-synagogue-in-america-180985432/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}} Notable leaders of the synagogue included Abraham Pereira Mendes and Henry Samuel Morais (1900–01). The Touro Synagogue was built from 1759 to 1763 for the Jeshuat Israel congregation in Newport under the leadership of Cantor (Chazzan) Isaac Touro, a Dutch-born American rabbi. The cornerstone was laid by Aaron Lopez, a Portuguese-born and Newport-based merchant and philanthropist who was the wealthiest person in Newport.{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Paul |date=March 13, 2006 |title=Plantations in the North: The Narragansett Planters |url=http://www.projo.com/extra/2006/slavery/day2/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060315195226/http://www.projo.com/extra/2006/slavery/day2/ |archive-date=March 15, 2006 |access-date=May 11, 2008 |work=The Providence Journal}} He supported Jewish causes and made his fortune through the trading of candles, whale oil, rum, slaves, the slave trade, in addition to being involved in the spermaceti candlemaking business and other commercial ventures.{{cite news |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Ana |last2=Nunes |first2=Alex |date=2 October 2019 |title=The Irony Of Aaron Lopez, The Merchant Prince Of Newport |url=https://thepublicsradio.org/episode/aaron-lopez-the-irony-of-the-merchant-prince-of-newport |access-date=31 January 2022 |publisher=NPR |agency=WNPN Public Radio}} Judah Touro, the son of Isaac Touro and his wife Reyna, made a fortune as a merchant in New Orleans. He left $10,000 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|10000|1854|r=-4}}}} in current dollar terms) in his will for the upkeep of the Jewish cemetery and synagogue in Newport.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}

In 1946, Touro Synagogue was designated as a National Historic Site, and it is an affiliated area of the National Park Service. The synagogue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. In 2001, the congregation joined into a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Touro Synagogue is located at 85 Touro Street and remains an active Orthodox synagogue. The building underwent a restoration in 2005–2006, and a recreation of the original dedication ceremony was conducted in 2013 in honor of the 250th anniversary.

=Annual recitation of the Washington–Seixas letter on religious pluralism=

On August 18, 1790, President George Washington visited Newport as part of a tour of New England following Rhode Island's ratification of the Constitution.{{Cite web |title=Founders Online: From George Washington to the Clergy of Newport, Rhode Island … |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0132 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=founders.archives.gov |language=en}} He met with various local religious groups including Christians, Freemasons, and the Touro Synagogue congregation, known as Congregation Yeshuat Israel at the time, and read open letters in a prearranged ceremony.Sarna, Jacob D. To Bigotry No Sanction. Brandeis University. Retrieved May 3, 2025, from https://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/sarna/americanjewishcultureandscholarship/tobigotrynosanction.pdf Touro Synagogue's warden, Moses Seixas, wrote to Washington, expressing the support of the Congregation for Washington's administration and good wishes for him.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/gw-letter|title = George Washington Letter}}

Washington sent a letter on August 21 in response, which read in part:

{{blockquote|... the Government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.|Letter of George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island[http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/tsf-intro-menu/slom-scholarship/86-washington-letter Letter of George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 1790.]}}

The Touro congregation annually reads President Washington's letter on religious pluralism and celebrates the occasion with invited speakers. They have included Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan;{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Andy|title=Newport's Touro Synagogue celebrates its 250th anniversary|url=http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20130818-newports-touro-synagogue-celebrates-its-250th-anniversary-gallery.ece|access-date=18 August 2014|work=The Providence Journal|date=18 August 2013|quote=Justice Elena Kagan, United States Supreme Court, was the keynote speaker at the 66th Annual George Washington Letter weekend at Touro Synagogue|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084238/http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20130818-newports-touro-synagogue-celebrates-its-250th-anniversary-gallery.ece|archive-date=19 August 2014}} and Brown University presidents Ruth Simmons{{cite web|last1=Coyle|first1=Ann|title=Address at Touro Synagogue on President Washington's Letter|url=https://news.brown.edu/articles/2007/08/touro-address|website=News from Brown|publisher=Brown University|access-date=18 August 2014|year=2007|quote=Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons delivered the keynote address at the 60th Annual Reading of the George Washington Letter at the nation's oldest synagogue, Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007}} and Christina Paxson.{{cite web|title=Paxson delivers keynote address at Touro Synagogue in Newport|url=https://news.brown.edu/articles/2014/08/touro|website=News from Brown|publisher=Brown University|access-date=18 August 2014|year=2014|quote=Brown President Christina Paxson delivered the keynote address at the annual reading of President George Washington's Letter to the Hebrew Congregations of Newport on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014, at 1 p.m. in Touro Synagogue.}}

As of June 2011, the original letter is owned by the Morris Morgenstern Foundation and is valued between $5 million and $10 million.{{Cite web |date=2011-06-15 |title=Solving the Mystery of Washington’s Famous Letter |url=https://forward.com/news/138689/solving-the-mystery-of-washington-s-famous-lette/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=The Forward |language=en}}

Congregation

The congregation at Newport was initially composed of Jews with roots in the Sephardic Spanish and Portuguese diaspora, and by the eighteenth century, with some Ashkenazi Jews.

The first Jewish residents of Newport, fifteen Spanish Jewish families, arrived in 1658. It is presumed that they arrived via the communities in Curaçao, home to the oldest active Jewish congregation in the Americas, dating to 1651, and Suriname. The small community worshiped in rooms in private homes for more than a century before they could afford to build a synagogue."Touro Synagogue", Rabbi Theodore Lewis, New Port History, Vol 43, number 159, summer 175

The community purchased and dedicated the Jewish Cemetery at Newport in 1677.

In the late 1700s, the Jewish community removed the Torah scrolls and sent them for safekeeping, along with the deed to the building, to Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. The keys left the Jewish community and were passed to the Goulds, a Quaker family in Newport.

From the 1850s on, the building was occasionally opened for worship for the convenience of summer visitors. It was reopened on a regular basis in 1883 as Jewish life in Newport revived with the late nineteenth century immigration of eastern European Jews (Ashkenazim). The synagogue acquired a nearby building and ran a Hebrew school and other activities. It continues to serve as a thriving congregation with many year-round programs.

The congregation currently uses the ArtScroll Nusach Sefard prayer book.

Rabbi Dr. Marc Mandel became the rabbi in July 2012. {{as of|2012}}, the congregation consisted of about 175 families.{{cite web|title=New Touro Rabbi to Celebrate History at Chanukah|url=http://www.newport-now.com/articles/new-touro-rabbi-to-celebrate-history-at-chanukah/|publisher=Metro Publisher™}}[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/197847 "Take a Peek Inside America's Oldest Synagogue"], Israel National News Rabbi Stephen Belsky served as interim rabbi from 2023-2025.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Restoration

File:Restoration of Touro Synagogue.png

During 2005 and 2006, Touro Synagogue invested in a restoration project for its valued antique metal artifacts. In total, 150 metal objects, from eighteenth century hardware to European chandeliers and silver rimonim (ceremonial bells used on the Torah), needed to be rebuilt, have their surfaces stabilized, and have missing parts replaced. The project was carried out by the Newport-based restoration company Newmans Ltd.[http://finemetalrestoration.com/touro-synagogue/ Newmans Ltd. Art Restoration]

Ownership controversy

Conflict over the ownership of the Touro building and its contents surfaced in 2012. Newport's Congregation Jeshuat Israel put up for sale ceremonial bells, called rimonim, to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for $7.4 million. New York's Congregation Shearith Israel sued the Newport congregation, saying that Shearith Israel owns the Touro synagogue building and its contents, based on the 18th century transfer of deed. They wanted to evict the Newport congregation from the Touro building and site. In April 2015 both sides of the dispute said several attempts at mediation had failed and they were preparing for trial.[http://www.timesofisrael.com/state-to-play-solomon-in-tussle-over-uss-oldest-synagogue/ "State to play Solomon in tussle over US’s oldest synagogue"], The Times of Israel, 24 April 2015

In May 2016 a federal judge ruled on the matter, rejecting Congregation Shearith Israel's claim to oversight. U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. noted that "for at least the past 20 years, Shearith Israel has not taken any meaningful action in its capacity as trustee for the Touro Synagogue and lands."[http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.719964 "Court Rules in Favor of U.S.' Oldest Synagogue in $7.4 Million Legal Battle"], Haaretz, May 17, 2016 In June 2016 Congregation Shearith Israel announced it would appeal the decision.[http://www.jta.org/2016/06/14/news-opinion/united-states/ny-congregation-to-appeal-ruling-on-historic-touro-synagogue "NY congregation to appeal ruling on historic Touro Synagogue"], JTA, June 14, 2016 Congregation Shearith Israel was awarded ownership on August 2, 2017 by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston.{{cite news |author=Otterman, Sharon |title=New York Congregation Owns Oldest Synagogue in the U.S., 180 Miles Away, Court Rules |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/nyregion/new-york-congregation-owns-oldest-synagogue-in-the-us-180-miles-away-court-rules.html?_r=0 |newspaper=New York Times |date=August 3, 2017 }}

On March 18, 2019, the United States Supreme Court declined to take up the case; thus, the lower court ruling that Congregation Shearith Israel owns Touro stands.{{Cite web |date=2019-03-18 |title=Supreme Court won't intervene in Touro Synagogue dispute |url=https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190318/supreme-court-wont-intervene-in-touro-synagogue-dispute/1 |access-date=2021-02-05 |website=Providence Journal}}

Images

File:Touro Synagogue Newport Rhode Island 3.jpg| The building's exterior in 2009

File:Touro Synagogue interior.jpg|The synagogue's interior in 2019

File:Touro Synagogue Visitor Center Newport Rhode Island.jpg|Loeb Visitors Center, built in 2009

File:Levi Gale House Newport RI edit1.jpg|The adjacent Levi H. Gale House is used by Congregation Jeshuat Israel.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

{{official website|http://www.tourosynagogue.org/}}
[http://www.nps.gov/tosy/ Touro Synagogue National Historic Site] (National Park Service profile)
Washington's and Seixas' letters
{{HABS |survey=RI-278 |id=ri0083 |title=Touro Synagogue, Congregation Jeshuat Israel, 85 Touro Street, Newport, Newport County, RI |photos=12 |dwgs=27 |data=12}}
[http://www.loebvisitors.org Loeb Visitors Center] (Starting point for tours of Touro Synagogue)

Category:Synagogues completed in 1763

Category:Jewish organizations established in the 1650s

Category:Jewish-American history

Category:Orthodox synagogues in Rhode Island

Category:Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island

Category:Sephardi Jews topics

Category:Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island

Category:Museums in Newport, Rhode Island

Category:Jewish museums in the United States

Category:Religious museums in Rhode Island

Category:Synagogues preserved as museums

Category:Synagogues in Rhode Island