Thursday, February 10, 2022
Rival Jewish congregations feud over America’s oldest synagogue
Touro synagogue sits on a hill at an angle so that its ark faces Jerusalem, as tradition dictates. Stepping inside, one immediately senses its sacredness. But it is not just a shrine for Jews. It is also, as President John F. Kennedy once said, "one of the oldest symbols of liberty". Touro sits at the intersection of religious freedom, American history (a trapdoor in the bimah , or podium, may have been part of the Underground Railroad) and the history of Jews in America. For nearly a decade the oldest synagogue in the country has been at the centre of a dispute between its occupants, Congregation Jeshuat Israel (cji), and its owners, Congregation Shearith Israel (csi).
Jewish merchants came to Newport in around 1658 from Spain and Portugal, by way of the Caribbean and South America. They bought land for a cemetery two decades later. By 1763 the community was large enough to open a synagogue. In 1790 George Washington famously promised Touro's members that religious "toleration" would give way to religious liberty.
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