THE PUBLIC’S RADIO: Touro

In Partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org

Touro Synagogue’s future uncertain, as long-time Newport congregation faces eviction

A long-running battle over control of the country’s oldest synagogue has escalated again in Newport, RI.

By Antonia Ayres-Brown

A leader of the Newport Jewish congregation being evicted from Touro Synagogue is calling the move a “shameful power grab.”

Louise Ellen Teitz, the co-president of Congregation Jeshuat Israel, says she received a letter in October notifying the congregation that it “must vacate the Premises” by January 31, 2022. On the first day of February, Congregation Shearith Israel, the New York congregation that owns Touro Synagogue, filed a motion in Rhode Island District Court to evict Congregation Jeshuat Israel from the premises. That means the local congregation that has worshiped in the historic building for more than a century may have their lease terminated altogether.

Louis Solomon, the president of the New Yorkbased Congregation Shearith Israel, said the move is not intended to displace congregants.

“What we are doing is changing the board that's going to be overseeing Touro Synagogue. It's now populated by the [Congregation Jeshuat Israel] people. And we're going to terminate that,” he said. “Nothing is going to change with respect to the congregants. Nothing is going to change with respect to the rabbi. We hope he will stay.”

In Newport, however, Teitz says the court filing has sent shockwaves through the Jewish community.

“If what you really want to do is change the board, the way you do that, as far as I know, is you become a member and you work from within the organization,” she said. “That's how you change the board, unless you're sort of trying to do an outside coup.”

A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP

The history of why these two congregations are intertwined goes back hundreds of years. Touro Synagogue was built in 1763. When the British occupied Newport during the Revolutionary War, many Jewish families left the city. By the early 19th Century, the New York-based Congregation Shearith Israel was entrusted with the synagogue and its upkeep.

Decades later, during the 1880s, the local Jewish community in Newport had grown and wanted to reopen the synagogue for regular services. In 1903, Congregation Jeshuat Israel, a Jewish Orthodox assembly, leased the synagogue for five years. That lease was extended for another five years in 1908. Technically, Congregation Jeshuat Israel hasn’t had a new lease since then.

Nearly a century later, disagreement arose between the two communities when Congregation Jeshuat Israel tried to sell a historic pair of bellshaped ornaments that adorn the torah, called rimonim, to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for over $7 million. Congregation Shearith Israel objected, arguing that the sacred finials weren’t the Newport congregation’s to sell.

This dispute led to a years-long court battle that culminated in 2017, when a federal court decided that New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel owns the building and the historical artifacts inside. The Newport congregation attempted to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019, but the court declined to intervene. As a result, Congregation Jeshuat Israel’s legal claim to Touro Synagogue remains as merely a holdover lessee.

Teitz, the co-president of the Newport congregation, said this legal situation puts her community in a precarious position.

“As long as we don't have a long-term lease, they control everything,” she said. “Because if we don't do what they want, they simply will terminate the lease, as they have now done.”

ESCALATING TENSION

Congregation Shearith Israel cites several recent events that contributed to their decision. In 2021, controversy arose after leaders of the New York

Congregation Jeshuat Israel has leased Newport’s Touro Synagogue from a New Yorkbased congregation for over a century, but the Newport congregation has not signed a new lease since 1908

congregation learned a large gravestone had been installed at Touro Cemetery for Ambassador John Loeb, a generous donor to the synagogue and namesake of its visitors center. Loeb is still living, and Shearith Israel said they should have been informed before any changes were made to the historic cemetery.

In the Newport congregation’s defense, its leadership says the gravestone’s installation was a surprise to them as well, since they thought contractors were only entering the graveyard to take measurements. Congregation Jeshuat Israel apologized and the gravestone was removed.

Congregation Shearith Israel also claims there has been a broader lack of transparency at Touro Synagogue. The New York congregation’s leadership requested two seats on the Newport synagogue’s board, as they put it, “to have eyes in.” Jeshuat Israel refused, saying it was overstepping the congregations’ landlord-tenant relationship.

“I think the important thing to know is we are two independent, separate congregations,” said Teitz. “We really are.”

She compares the New York congregation’s request to a landlord renting space to a company and then telling them how to run their business. She says she countered that the congregations could reestablish a liaison position, but that o er was not accepted.

Some attempts were made to mediate the dispute after Congregation Shearith Israel sent the eviction notice in October, but they all failed.

MOVING FORWARD

Since Congregation Shearith Israel filed the court motion on February 1, Solomon has maintained that his congregation is not pursuing a typical eviction. They do not plan to change the locks, and he says the schedule of religious services will not be disrupted.

The future of Congregation Jeshuat Israel’s role in managing the synagogue, however, is tenuous.

“I don't think Jeshuat Israel will be the main congregation at Touro Synagogue. They will be welcome, and they will have a proper amount of say,” Solomon said. “[But] by refusing to cooperate with us, by doing things that surprise us, they put at risk our ability to be the steward of Touro Synagogue. You know, they're going to need to change that, or we're going to need to change who's going to be the manager of this institution.”

As to whether Congregation Jeshuat Israel might still obtain the long-term lease it seeks, Solomon says the Newport congregation is “looking for something that's not realistic to have.”

Instead, Solomon imagines Touro Synagogue’s owners will put together a new board composed of some members of his New York congregation, some members of the Newport congregation, and several prominent national figures who have an interest in the synagogue. With this change, Solomon said he’d like to see the synagogue become more of a destination for youth groups, school trips, and scholars.

“I will tell you that we've had expressions of interest from several Rhode Island Jewish institutions interested in becoming the lessee,” Solomon said. “And we're thinking about that.”

In the meantime, Congregation Jeshuat Israel is continuing to hold services in the historic synagogue. However, the legal drama has caused much worry within the congregation. Touro Synagogue is a beloved building where generations of Jewish families have held important life events, including B’nai Mitzvah and weddings. Teitz said the idea of the local congregation losing this degree of control over the building’s future is upsetting to many community members.

“We want to make sure that this is not a museum, or a New York annex, or a summer synagogue. We don't want it to be a New York congregation,” she said. “We want it to be part of the community.”

Teitz also noted that it’s a particularly unfortunate time for her community to have to defend its claim to the synagogue, given the recent rise in antisemitic attacks across the United States.

“It’s painful that one Jewish congregation would do this to another, and that's very sad with all that is going on in the country,” she said. “We have enough already from outside.”

As the court case moves forward in Rhode Island, both congregations are anxious to know how it will play out. For more than a hundred years, these two communities had navigated a complicated relationship, sharing control over one of the country’s oldest religious landmarks. With the Newport congregation’s lease on the line, the court case could prove to be a crucial tipping point.

This story was originally published on February 3. For updates on the Touro Synagogue case, visit ThePublicsRadio.org/ Newport. Antonia Ayres-Brown is the Newport Reporter for The Public’s Radio and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at antonia@thepublicsradio.org