Touro Synagogue (בית הכנסת טורו)

Copyright Kenneth C. Zirkel, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

Touro Synagogue, built in Newport, Rhode Island from 1759–63, has earned its place in history alone as the oldest known surviving synagogue in both North America and the U.S. However, in 1790, they locked down even more historical value when Pres. George Washington (one of my distant cousins) sent them a beautiful letter which they now read every year.

In 1760, Rabbi Isaac Touro came to the American Colonies from The Netherlands to serve as cantor and rabbi of the Portuguese Sephardic congregation Jeshuat Israel. At the time, almost all Jews in the Americas were Sephardic, descended from people who fled the Inquisition.

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Though the building was constructed in the 18th century, the congregation itself formed in 1658, when fifteen families came to Newport from the Dutch or British West Indies. In 1677, they bought land for a cemetery.

It took more than a century, but finally they saved up enough money to build a synagogue. Prior, they’d met in private houses. Architect Peter Harrison designed the building; philanthropist Aaron (né Duarte) Lopez laid the cornerstone; and Benjamin Howland painted a mural of the Ten Commandments above the Ark. Generous funding came from New York, London, Jamaica, Suriname, Amsterdam, and Curaçao.

The synagogue was dedicated 2 December 1763, the first night of Chanukah.

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To escape the British occupation during the Revolutionary War, Newport’s thirty Jewish families fled to Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. They gave the Torah scrolls and the synagogue’s deed to Congregation Shearith Israel (also Sephardic) in NYC. Touro Synagogue survived destruction because the British used it as a hospital and public assembly hall.

The British left in October 1779, and within the next two years, many evacuees returned and began rebuilding the Jewish community.

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In August 1790, Pres. Washington visited Newport to drum up support for the new Bill of Rights. Moses Mendes Seixas, synagogue president, attended the welcoming ceremonies and wrote him a letter congratulating him on being chosen as the first president, with good wishes for his success. This letter also discussed religious liberties and separation of church and state. Unlike most of the other Thirteen Colonies, Rhode Island had always practised religious tolerance (though Jewish residents nevertheless didn’t have full citizenship rights).

Pres. Washington’s letter of response arrived 21 August, with the famous line “the Government of the United States…gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

Because Newport never regained her pre-Revolutionary importance as a seaport and centre of commerce, the economy started on a permanent downward trajectory. By the early 19th century, barely any Jews remained, and the synagogue only opened for funerals, the High Holy Days, summer visitors, and special occasions.

The cemetery, however, remained an active burial ground. Though almost everyone had left the area, they never stopped loving their original synagogue and feeling a sense of connection and responsibility to it. The bodies of former residents were returned to Newport for burial. A brick wall was built around the cemetery in 1820.

The synagogue was also a stop on the Underground Railroad, with a trapdoor on the bima (pulpit). To prevent the building from falling into disrepair, Stephen Gould, a Quaker who’d been good friends with many Newport Jews, served as caretaker.

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In 1881, a new community of Ashkenazic immigrants who’d fled Tsar Aleksandr III’s pogroms petitioned Shearith Israel (trustees of Touro) to reopen the synagogue and appoint a permanent rabbi. Two years later, Rabbi Abraham Pereira Mendes of Jamaica and London arrived to fill the role. He stayed for ten years.

Though the congregation remains predominantly Ashkenazic, they continue to use Sephardic prayerbooks and rites. Once a year, people from Shearith Israel (which still owns Touro) visit to hold services in the full Sephardic style. Today, about 175 families are members.

In 1946, Touro Synagogue was designated a National Historic Site, and in 1966, it joined the National Register of Historic Places. Its antique metal artifacts underwent a full restoration in 2005–06.

Touro Synagogue