Touro Synagogue National Historic Site
(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
This past week Newport Rhode Island's Touro Synagogue celebrated its 250th anniversay.
The Synagogue was founded by members of Spanish Jewish families who first arrived in 1658; they were presumed to be from the communities of Curacao and Surinam.
Cantor Isaac Touro was instrumental in its founding and building from 1759-1763; his son Judah Touro, a wealthy merchant in New Orleans left $10,000 ($250,000 in today's dollars) in his will for the Touro shul and its cemetary.
George Washington sent a letter to the Synagogue in 1790 which read in part:
...the Government of the United States ...gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance...May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree.
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was among the dignitaries attending the ceremonies.
Click here for a CBS News video clip commemorating this event.
Touro is "the oldest surviving Jewish synagogue building in North America, and the only surviving building in the U.S. dating to the colonial era." (Wikipedia)
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