Religion and Politics

Shearith Israel Loses Bid for Control of Touro Synagogue

The New York Times‘ Richard Pérez-Peña reports, “A federal judge on Monday awarded control of the nation’s oldest synagogue, in Newport, R.I., to the congregation housed there, ruling against a New York congregation that had claimed ownership in a four-year legal fight between two of the oldest examples of America’s religious pluralism.” The ruling allows Jeshuat Israel to sell several valuables in order to fund the synagogue against the wishes of Shearith Israel, the congregation that had claimed ownership. “The central issue here is the legacy of some of the earliest Jewish settlers in North America, who desired to make Newport a permanent haven for public Jewish worship,” wrote Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in a 106-page decision.

Read at The New York Times

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