RI Supreme Court issues final ruling on Newport synagogue dispute

Newport Congregation Jeshuat Israel’s (CJI) 122-year, $1-per-year lease of 262-year-old Touro Synagogue from New York Congregation Shearith Israel (CSI) ended April 10 when the Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld a Superior Court decision granting immediate possession to CSI. Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, is the oldest standing synagogue in the United States. 

After the decision, Newporters Paul Tobak and Dr. James Herstoff, the leaders of new tenant Congregation Ahavath Israel (CAI), entered the building to prepare for Shabbat and Passover services. The Supreme Court decision was the culmination of a multiyear highly publicized legal battle about the ownership of Touro Synagogue.

When Touro Synagogue was built, it was owned by three members of the colonial Newport Congregation Yeshuat Israel. The last surviving owner gave control to Congregation Shearith Israel in his will. By the early 1800s the last members of the Newport Jewish community had died or moved away.

The Newport Jewish community revived in the late 1800s and CSI reopened the synagogue and sent a series of Rabbis to officiate.

In the early 1900s, a representative of CSI closed Touro Synagogue after CSI’s relationship with Newport’s burgeoning Jewish community broke down. Some Newporters attempted to get the courts involved by holding a sit-in at Touro Synagogue. After that gambit failed, CJI, which was chartered in 1894, and CSI made the lease agreement which survived until yesterday.

The current dispute began in 2012 after the Boston Museum of Fine Arts offered to buy a pair of rimonim (Torah finals) made by colonial silversmith Myer Myers from CJI for $ 7.4 million. When CSI became aware of the sale, a lawsuit ensued over control of the building. 

In 2016, Providence US District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. awarded control of Touro to CJI. In 2017, in a decision written by former US Supreme Court Justice David Souter, the Boston US Appeals Court overturned the Providence Court, upholding CSI’s ownership of Touro Synagogue and its appurtenances including a 500-year-old Torah scroll, the rimonim and a colonial matzah board.

Many attempts by CSI and CJI to work out a modus vivendi failed and, starting in 2022, CSI began attempting to evict CJI, which stayed put and appealed. Concurrently, attempts continued to work out an agreement between the congregations.

CSI was adamant that there not be another pause in services at Touro. Congregation Ahavath Israel was incorporated as a nonprofit Rhode Island organization in 2023 to ensure that there would be no interruption in services.

On Thursday, the Rhode Supreme Court released a 21-page decision written by Chief Justice Suttell, that concludes,  “our review of the record reveals that the trial justice [Judge Keough] did not err in entering judgment in favor of Shearith Israel, granting it ‘the right to take immediate possession of the [p]remises * * * together with the appurtenances and paraphernalia belonging thereto in accordance with the 1903 and 1908 leases.’ ”

Superior Court Associate Justice Maureen B. Keough had ruled in August 2024, and the Supreme Court concurred, that CJI did not show that an agreement between the two congregations and the US Department of the Interior made in 1946 when Touro Synagogue was designated a National Historic Site altered the CSI-CJI landlord-tenant relationship.

In a statement CSI said, “Let this be a time not of division, but of renewed unity and shared commitment. Everyone is welcome, and we look forward to seeing you there.

“We hope this marks the beginning of a new chapter of collaboration, grounded in mutual respect and a common dedication to the future of the Touro Synagogue and Jewish life in Newport.”

CAI announced that services in Touro Synagogue will take place on Friday at 7 p.m., on Saturday and on Sunday and Monday, the first two days of Passover at 8:45 a.m.

Tobak and Herstoff wrote that, “We invite all of our friends, regardless of their affiliation or non-affiliation, and especially all of the members of CJI to worship with us at Touro Synagogue as they have been doing. We welcome everyone to join with us.”

Paul Tobak told Jewish Rhode Island, “My relationship with Newport’s Jewish community goes back for many generations.

“We are a small, elderly Jewish community. Our resources are limited. I look forward to working with CSI to enhance Jewish life in Newport for the benefit of the local community and the many visitors who help us have a minyan at Touro Synagogue. 

“We welcome all members of the community and visitors to enjoy the benefits of praying, at Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the United States.”

CJI co-president Michael Pimental sent Jewish Rhode Island a message stating that, “Congregation Jeshuat Israel (CJI) is deeply saddened by the Rhode Island Supreme Court’s ruling… 

“CJI remains committed to being the vibrant center of Jewish worship, culture and community for generations to come. We are profoundly grateful for the continued support of our members and the wider Newport community, and we will move forward – rooted in tradition, guided by resilience and united in purpose.”

0n its website, CJI says, “Congregation Jeshuat Israel holds religious services in the Levi Gale House.” The Levi Gale house is across the street from Touro Synagogue at 85 Touro St., Newport.

AARON GINSBURG, a Newport native, lives in Stoughton, Massachusetts. He is a member of Congregation Jeshuat Israel and Congregation Ahavath Israel as well as Congregation Shearith Israel has been reporting on this story for Jewish Rhode Island. He can be reached at aaron.ginsburg@gmail.com.