TOURO SYNAGOGUE
B-u.'yU.-L^. NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE • NEWPORT, R.I. ewish Community at Newport Now the Newport congregation turned to the dean of His ships and agents were known throughout the trading Washington's reply a few days later contained a moving affirmation The W America's colonial architects, Peter Harrison, who volunteered area of the Atlantic. that almost exactly repeated the key phrases in the Seixas letter: Rhode Island's first Jewish community was founded to design their synagogue. . . . It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by New homes were built, some of grand proportion. And the by a group of these Sephardim. They came to the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the Ground was broken in 1759. Slowly the work progressed, beset social, cultural, and civic activities of the Jewish community became Newport, perhaps as early as 1658, and were accepted. exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the like most church construction by delay and lack of funds. New an indispensable part of Newport's progress. It seemed that Soon they formed a congregation according Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, appeals went out. More money was received. And the work continued. nothing could cloud this golden prospect. to their religious tradition. to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live Finally, 4 years after the laying of the cornerstone, the synagogue under its protection should demean themselves as good At first, unable to build a synagogue, they held religious was ready of dedication. The date was December 2, 1763. citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. services in private homes or in rented buildings. In Conducting the service was the spiritual leader of the Newport like manner they provided space to school their Congregation, Rev. Isaac Touro. The hroes of Independence children in the ways of Judaism. On a quiet street in Newport, R.l.,a principle has But the Revolution came, and it sapped Newport's vitality. This historic event was attended by many non-Jewish notables ... the Government of the United States, which gives The Jew who passes away is buried in sanctified Her trade was destroyed. British troops occupied triumphed. For over two centuries, the small synagogue of Newport and surrounding localities. The beauty of the to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance ground. So in 1677, the Newport Jews bought a the city and it became a garrison town. Most of the dedication service inspired the Newport Mercury to report: requires only that they who live under its standing here has testified that men may seek eternal cemetery plot, their first community project. townspeople left, Christian and Jew alike. The Order and Decorum, the Harmony and Solemnity of the Musick, protection should demean themselves as good truths in their own particular ways without hindrance As they had done in their religious affairs, so too in civic and together with a handsome Assembly of People, in a Edifice the Deprived of all but a remnant of its congregation, the citizens, in giving it on all occasions their from the civil government that embraces them all. commercial affairs these people carved a place for themselves in this most perfect of the Temple kind perhaps in A merica, & Newport Synagogue declined. Part of the time effectual support. strange new land. By the early 1700's, Newport was a bustling splendidly illuminated, could not but raise in the Mind a faint Idea it was closed. It would be inconsistent with the frankness of In harmony with this principle is Touro Synagogue's port city; and until Revolutionary times, its influence would of the Majesty & Grandeur of the Ancient Jewish Worship my character not to avow that I am pleased with After the war, the city partially revived, and, to continue to grow. Ships from Newport traversed the far reaches mentioned in Scripture. your favorable opinion of my administration, and architectural style. Derived from the models of classical a limited degree, the Jewish community with it. of the Atlantic in search of trade. The Jews of Newport fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children Because many public buildings had been damaged, antiquity, it is a style distinguished by balance and contributed to this successful era. As merchants and shippers, as of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, the synagogue now served public purposes as well as reasoned restraint. craftsmen and producers, they grew as a community with the city. continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other religious ones. In 1781 town meetings were held in the building. ongregation Yeshuat Israel Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety From 1781 to 1784 the Rhode Island General Assembly met here. Now came the peak period of colonial Newport's under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be And also during this period the Supreme Court of Rhode Island used none to make him afraid. May the The hode Island Experiment Jewish community. With their new synagogue the Synagogue for its sessions. and their previously acquired cemetery, father of all mercies scatter light and not Roger Williams, founder of the colony Place to Worship they could properly perform three essential functions But the impact of war was not to be overcome, and Newport's vital darkness in our paths, and make us all in our that became Rhode Island, believed in processes could not be reawakened. Again people drifted away, several vocation useful here, and in his M • By now a century had passed since the of Jewish communal life: Worship, religious religious liberty. His own banishment most of the Jewish community among them. Again the own due time and way everlastingly happy. M I first Jews came to Newport. Throughout instruction of the children, and burial in sanctified from Puritan Massachusetts had ground. Perhaps it was optimism born of this synagogue served a dwindling congregation. m I these years, more Sephardim had come G. Washington convinced him that religious intolerance m to Rhode Island. And along with good fortune that now prompted the congregation Ironically, it was at this low point in its fortunes that the Newport was a threat to civil peace and a From Washington's letter to the Hebrew Congregation in ^^^^^^1 them had come Ashkenazim, Jews from to choose the name, Yeshuat Israel— Synagogue inspired a classic declaration of religious barrier against the search for truth. Newport, August 17, 1790. ^^^^^^B Central and Eastern Europe. These Salvation of Israel. liberty by George Washington. So he used his influence in Rhode Island ^^ I I two groups have differing traditions, to shape a new kind of civil govern Following the strict rites of their faith, these devout folk centered Ww m ^B and hi Europe usually maintain separate ment, one devoid of power over their religious lives on the synagogue. Holy days observed with ^^^r BB congregations. But in 18th-century To igotry No Sanction spiritual matters. The legal cornerstone of this experiment was ancienct ceremony an d ritual were but the highpoints of Highly significant were these words from the President of the new Newport they became one community and as a congregation proclaimed in the colony's Code of Laws of 1647. After listing the their rich religious culture. During a visit to Newport in August 1790, President Nation—a Nation feeling its way. Adoption of the Bill of Rights followed the Sephardic tradition. Washington was presented with an address from was more than a year in the future when Washington penned laws governinRg the secular affair s of the commonwealth, the Prepared before the days of Passover was matzah, unleavened bread the Newport Congregation prepared by Moses these perceptive phrases. And though the First Amendment would code concluded with this statement: This enlarged congregation needed a permanent place in which symbolizing the deliverance of the Jewish people from ancient Seixas, warden of the synagogue. The guarantee religious liberty in the strictly legal sense (but at that "These are the lawes that concerne all men . . . and otherwise to worship. They needed a synagogue of their own. First they Egypt. The sound of the shofar or ram's horn recalled Abraham's heart of the letter was in the words: time only insofar as the Federal Government was concerned), than . . . what is herein forbidden, all men may walk as their located a plot of ground. Then, as was the custom among testing and announced the religious New Year, Rosh Hashana, . . . Deprived as we heretofore have been of the Washington went further. His was a doctrine of consciences persuade them, everyone in the name of his God." these scattered groups of Jews, they turned to their and the end of the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. To these invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now brotherly love, of mutual respect. coreligionists elsewhere for help in financing the building of a synagogue. Jews of Newport, Hanukkah must have held special meaning, Ships from Rhode Island's busy ports soon carried these glad (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty for the essence of this celebration of the ancient Maccabean victory Washington's recognition in 1790 came at the end of the eventful tidings across the sea. Among those whose hopes rekindled at this A generous response came from New York City's Congregation dispenser of all events) behold a Government is religious freedom, and here in Newport the Jews were free. history of Newport's earlier Jewish community. A few years news were the Sephardim—Jews of Spain and Portugal. Some, Shearith Israel—Remnant of Israel—the only one to precede the erected by the Majesty of the People—a afterward regular services ceased; the doors of the synagogue closed. called Marranos, had become Christian converts to escape persecution. Newport congregation in what is now the United States. During these few years before the Revolution, the Jewish community Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, Others had been driven from Iberia and now resided elsewhere More help came from congregations in Jamaica, pursued commercial ventures with new vigor. One man, persecution no assistance—but generously affordens Time passed and the buildings decayed. One observer regretfully in Europe, or in South America and the West Indies. Curacao, Surinam, and London. Aaron Lopez, was called the Merchant Prince of New England. to AllB liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship. . . . noted that bats and moles now made their abode there. 3 • Aaron Lopez, is dated 1770. The inscription on the large center Touro Synagogue is on Touro Street in downtown his JVoble Edifice < I eter Harrison's About candelabrum identifies it as a gift of Jacob Pollock in 1769. In Newport, R.I., about IV2 blocks east of the Old Colony OS ~z I When the last survivors of Congregation Yeshuat