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Touro Synagogue

Jewish Newport
Welcomes Travelers

1-800 729-9820
(313) 827-9920
FAX (313) 355-1701

RUTH ROVNER

Special to The Jewish news

H

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140 E. 11 m il e
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54 0f1 n R.)

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544.1711

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West Bloomfield, MI 48033
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alfway up a quiet and
hilly street not far
from the old court
house in Newport, Rhode
Island, is a brown and white
brick building.
Its exterior is simple and
modest — but not its history.
Touro Synagogue is the oldest
synagogue in North America.
And it is because of Touro
that Newport has a special
mystique for Jewish travelers.
They are drawn to this town
on Naragansett Bay not by its
storied mansions, its yachts
or its annual jazz festival, but •
mainly because Newport is
home to a site that has an en-
during place in American
Jewish history and has over
35,000 visitors each year.
Not only did Congress
declare Iburo Synagogue a
National shrine in 1948, but
in 1982 the U.S. Postal Ser-
vice honored it by issuing a
commemorative stamp. In
1986, the 'Iburo National
Heritage Trust was created.
And when Congress issued a
resolution establishing
Religious Freedom Week in
1988, Iburo Synagogue was
mentioned in four of the eight
statements of the resolution.
On Touro's exterior is a pla-
que that designates it as a
National Historic Site.
Inside are 12 Greek col-
umns, the gleaming can-
delabra, the elaborate wood-
work and domed ceiling. The
modest exterior does not
prepare tourists for the or-
nate sanctuary.
As we sat in wooden pews,
a guide gave highlights of the
history of the Jews who dedi-
cated this synagogue on
December 2, 1763, with their
rabbi, Isaac Iburo officiating.
The first Jews who came to
Newport were Sephardim

who had fled from Spain and
Portugal to the Caribbean.
There they learned of Roger
Williams, who founded Rhode
Island in 1639. He believed in
inviting all religious groups
to his colony, which was
founded on true religious
freedom.
The Jews also knew that
Newport was a thriving com-
mercial and shipping port. So
in 1658, 15 Jewish families
arrived in Newport.
These early Jews cherished
their freedom of religion.
Unable at first to build a
synagogue, they held services
in private homes and then in
rented buildings. By 1677,
they bought a cemetery plot
as their first community
project.

They prospered as mer-
chants and shippers in
Newport, and by the 1750s,
they were ready to build a
synagogue. They hired Peter
Harrison, prominent colonial
architect who had designed
Newport's public library, the
first in the country.
Harrison was not Jewish, so
Isaac Touro, the leader of the
congregation, described the
Portuguese Sephardic syna-
gogue in Amsterdam. He
designed the synagogue from
that description.
The synagogue today looks
almost exactly as it did in the
1700s. The members of Con-
gregation Yeshuat Israel who
worship here now — for this is
a functioning synagogue, not
just a place for visitors — still
observe Sephardic tradition,
so the bimah is in the center
of the sanctuary.
Except for the carpets and
the pews, everything is
original. The candlesticks,
wall sconces, brass menorot —
all are original pieces made
by colonial artisans. The five
massive brass candlelabra
suspended from the ceiling

