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Touro Synagogue (Newport, Rhode Island)

Touro Synagogue is the oldest Synagogue of North America and the only dating from the American colonial period still in business. It. Is located at Newport in the State of Rhode Island.

Summary

1 History
2 The Synagogue Today
- 2.1 Offices
3 The Foundation
4 See also
5 References

/ / History

Origin of the Jewish community of Newport

In 1492 , the King of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile promulgate the Order of the Alhambra giving four months to Jews in Spain to convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. Many Jews left Spain.

The colonial Dutch in New Amsterdam receives after 1654 and the first Jewish immigrants in 1658 fifteen Jewish families of Spanish or Portuguese , from the Netherlands Antilles , settled in the island of Rhode Island. They are mainly Marranos , Jews converted to Catholicism in order to survive. The religious freedom promised by Roger Williams , Governor of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations allow them to return to the Jewish religion. Very quickly, the economic benefits and allow the small community forward.

Jeshuat Israel community is based in Newport in 1658. She bought land in 1677 into a churchyard. In 1780 , the community of eight families and opened a school for the education of his children.

The construction of the Synagogue

In 1758 , Isaac Touro arrives from Amsterdam as " Hazzan (cantor) and take in hand the destiny of the community. For over a hundred years, community members met in private homes to offices. He decides to build a synagogue. His son Abraham and Judah would later be important benefactors of the synagogue.

The first stone was laid by Aaron Lopez, a trader dealing with Newport. Jeshuat Israel congregation in 1658 when fifteen Jewish families in Spain and Portugal arrive, from the west, and many are close to Easton's Point. The synagogue was formally dedicated December 2, 1763. Among the other officer, also featured Henry Samuel Morais.

The project is very ambitious for the community, it must rely on neighboring communities. Having received positive responses, the land is purchased on June 30 1759 Griffin Street Ebenezer Allen of Sandwich, Massachusetts.

On August ^1, 1759 , the foundation stone of the synagogue is asked. The architect English Peter Harrison , who emigrated to America in 1738 and moved to Rhode Island, offers its services free of charge. A product of Enlightenment , he has designed many churches and buildings officials. The synagogue is considered his masterpiece.

The synagogue was dedicated on 2 December 1763.

Harrison is influenced by neo- Palladian- style English that redirects to conventional sources. Plans and details the importance of books from England.

The synagogue was built in bricks imported from England. The building is oriented toward the is in the direction of Jerusalem and is an acute angle relative to the street.

Interior of the Touro Synagogue with Tebah surrounded by a balustrade. We guess the top right and left the women's gallery on the first floor

The interior of the synagogue is the classic colonial style, incorporating many elements typical of Spanish and Portuguese synagogue. It has some similarities with the Spanish Synagogue built in Amsterdam in 1675 , particularly in the arrangement of seats and columns imposing a series of twelve wooden Ionic columns support the galleries for women and the ceiling. The number of columns is a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel. The top of the columns is Corinthian and the bottom of Ionic style. Each column is carved from a single trunk tree. The Holy Ark containing the Torah scrolls is located on the eastern wall. Above, a mural representing the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. This table is the work of Benjamin Howland, an artist from Newport.

Five magnificent chandeliers adorn the ceiling. That the center, a chandelier at twelve formwork is a gift from Jacob Pollock 1789. This chandelier has a unique feature: four heads of monkeys appear visible on the central trunk. The other four chandeliers were donated by Naphtali Hart Myers in 1760 , Aaron Lopez in 1770 and two by Abraham Rodriguez Mendez in 1765.

Name of the Touro Synagogue

Abraham Touro, son of one of the Touro Issac left by will the sum of 10,000 dollars to the State of Rhode Island to take care of the synagogue and 5000 dollars for the maintenance of the street serving the (currently named Touro Street ). The synagogue is referred for the first time as Touro Synagogue in the deed of acceptance of funds.

Letter from George Washington

Letter from Moses Seixas to George Washington

Answer of George Washington - page 1

Answer of George Washington - page 2

In 1790 , the community through the pen of Moses Seixas ( 1744 - 1809 ) wrote to George Washington to express the community's support for its action but also its best. George Washington wrote in his response:

... The Government of the United States does not approve of bigotry and can not tolerate the persecution. That children of the lineage of Abraham , who live on this land, continue to deserve and enjoy the goodwill of other people, that everyone can live in safety under his own vine and own fig tree , but not otherwise frightened. That the Father of All Graces dispenses light and not the darkness on our path, and that makes us all useful in our various vocations, and over time it has sought and how it eternally happy.

Moses Seixas's letter and copy of the response of George Washington, by his private secretary, are kept at the Library of Congress in Washington.

Historic Monument

Touro Synagogue The synagogue has received national awards for its history and architecture: In 1946 , an "Act of Congress (Law), President Truman proclaimed the synagogue a National Historic Site (National Historic Site). In 2001 , she became one of the 21 properties belonging to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In both cases it is the first religious building to receive such recognition.

The synagogue today

Offices

During the American Revolution , Newport was occupied by the English who use the synagogue as a hospital after all the furniture has been carefully stored, which can be seen even today the original furniture. The occupation led most of the population whose members of the Jewish community to leave the city, which lost its economic importance.

After the Revolutionary War, the synagogue is used as a place of prayer very intermittent due to the low number of members of the Jewish community. It is then used as mayor and as a courthouse.

Since 1880 , with immigration Ashkenazi , the building again became a synagogue used continuously.

Currently, the synagogue is still active and serving the community Orthodox Jewish Israel Jeshuat Newport 134 families strong. The services are held regularly morning and evening, Friday evening and Saturday as well as during the week, and days of Jewish holidays. The offices are celebrated according to the rite Sephardic. Men and women attend the office by being separated. At festivals, people gathered at the bottom, while the women sit in the galleries.

Since 1996, Rabbi Mordechai Eskovitz is officiating.

The community center is installed since the year 1925, in front of the synagogue, in a home-style Greek Revival , built in 1835, originally on Washington Square, a few hundred meters.

The Foundation

The Touro Synagogue Foundation was created in 1948 to maintain and preserve the synagogue, the cemetery and the Jewish Colonial Patriots Park and to promote religious freedom in America. It is a nonprofit association.

She saw its membership dues, donations, entrance fees to visit the synagogue and the sale of souvenirs and products.

She worked with the USPS for printing a stamp representing the Touro Synagogue, born in 1982 during ^the 250th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Each year the Foundation presents a special program focused on reading the letter from George Washington. At the ceremony, the Judge Alexander George Teitz Award is awarded to a person who by his words and facts about the shows contained in the letter of Washington.