Newport, RI: Touro Synagogue

I once brought my mother, Adele, to Newport on a small cruise ship. We visited the mansions and Hammersmith Farm, and I showed her the bustling shops. But when we left, what she wanted to talk about most was a modest but lovely building visited by only a fraction of the city’s tourists: Touro Synagogue. […]

By Mel Allen

Oct 16 2009

Touro Synagogue’s magnificent interior was designed by Peter Harrison, who modeled it after the Sephardic synagogues of Amsterdam and London.

Photo Credit : John T. Hopf Courtesy of Touro Synagogue

I once brought my mother, Adele, to Newport on a small cruise ship. We visited the mansions and Hammersmith Farm, and I showed her the bustling shops. But when we left, what she wanted to talk about most was a modest but lovely building visited by only a fraction of the city’s tourists: Touro Synagogue. My mother’s family was descended from the Jews of Spain, who were forced to flee during the Inquisition, in 1492. They scattered — some to Italy, others to Greece, others eventually to the Middle East. They, along with the Portuguese Jews, were the Sephardim, and my mother wore her heritage as proudly as a prized jewel. Touro Synagogue, the nation’s oldest temple still in existence and the first religious structure designated a National Trust Historic Site, is a monument to the 15 Sephardic Jewish families who arrived in Newport in 1658. They formed the congregation of Jeshuat Israel (Salvation of Israel), and for a century they and the groups who followed them worshipped in private homes. In time, the Jews of Newport commissioned an esteemed architect, Peter Harrison, to build their temple. He modeled Touro after the Sephardic synagogues of Amsterdam and London. General George Washington visited Touro Synagogue in 1781. As president, during a visit to Newport in August 1790, he wrote a letter to its congregation, stating that “the Government of the United States [gives] to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance …” Now every August, Touro Synagogue honors Washington’s letter with a reading and special service. You can see all this for yourself when you visit Touro Synagogue. It’s a living museum in the best sense, still serving an active congregation. In a city where glorious excess once ruled, a quiet yet profound feeling comes through when you step inside. Here is a place, it says, where the dream of religious tolerance gave a wandering people a home. TOURO SYNAGOGUE 85 Touro St. Newport, RI 401-847-4794 TouroSynagogue.org Read more: Local Treasure: Touro Synagogue

Mel Allen

Mel Allen is the fifth editor of Yankee Magazine since its beginning in 1935. His first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and in the summer of 2006 became editor. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long form story telling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel taught fourth grade in Maine for three years and believes that his education as a writer began when he had to hold the attention of 29 children through months of Maine winters. He learned you had to grab their attention and hold it. After 12 years teaching magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, he now teaches in the MFA creative nonfiction program at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Like all editors, his greatest joy is finding new talent and bringing their work to light.

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