The Touro Synagogue in Newport

The Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, stands as the oldest surviving synagogue in the United States and a powerful symbol of religious freedom in the nation. Completed in 1763 for a community of Sephardic Jews as a place where their faith could be practiced openly and without fear. Many in this Jewish community had fled the Inquisition or persecution in Europe, and Newport’s reputation for tolerance made is a place to live without hiding who they were.

At the center of the community was Rabbi Isaac Touro, the synagogue’s first spiritual leader. He is remembered for guiding the congregation but also for his Loyalist sympathies during the American Revolution. He believed in maintaining allegiance to the British Crown because the British were protecting the synagogue during the war. When the British evacuated Newport in 1779, Rabbi Touro left with them.

A famous moment in the synagogue’s history came in 1790 when the congregation wrote to President George Washington to express gratitude for the new nation’s promise of liberty. Washington’s reply assured the Newport Jews that the United States would give: “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” This is one of  the most important statements on religious freedom written by a President. Every year, the synagogue holds a public reading of Washington’s letter.

In 1946, President Truman designated the Touro Synagogue as a National Historic Site, and it is still owned and actively used by the Jewish Congregation. The synagogue continues as a house of worship and a living testament to the right to practice faith openly.