Washington’s letter resonates 224 years later

Top row, L-R: Newport Mayor Harry F. Winthrop; Master of Ceremonies Andrew M. Teitz; Rep. David N. Cicilline; Attorney General Peter Kilmartin; RI Sen. Majority Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed; Rev. William O’Neill, St. Mark’s Church, Jamestown; Rabbi Dr. Marc Mandel, Congregation Jeshuat Israel; Saul Woythaler, co-president Congregation Jeshuat Israel. Second row, L-R: Donald C. Christ, chair of the Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust; Brown University President Christina Hull Paxson; and Gary P. Naftalis, co-chair, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP NEWPORT – On the morning of Aug. 17, 1790, George Washington arrived in Newport, accompanied by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.  Exactly 224 years later, the President of Brown University, Christina Hull Paxson, gave the keynote address to a packed house in the same Touro Synagogue that President Washington had visited.  Echoing Washington’s famous words, Paxson declared, “The benefits of a tolerant society – the kind of society George Washington and his colleagues mapped out when Brown and Touro were still new – are infinite.”

The occasion was the 67th annual reading of the George Washington Letter. The event was attended by more than 220 people.

Gary Naftalis, who was honored with reading the Moses Seixas letter, gave voice to the Warden of Yeshuat Israel, the first Jewish congregation in Newport, in an elegant expression of the Jewish community’s delight in Washington as leader and in a democratic government. Seixas wrote:

Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events) behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People – a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance – but generously affording to All liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental Machine.  

In response, George Washington sent an eloquent letter to the Hebrew Congregation. Read by Donald Christ, chairman of the McBean Charitable Trust, the letter by President Washington, written one year before the ratification of the Bill of Rights, expressed what turned out to be the first expression of religious freedom by an American president.

It is now no more that tolerance is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that those who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

In her keynote address, Paxson noted that Brown University dated its founding to 1764 and said, “Brown has embodied the ideals central to the founding of Rhode Island: tolerance, openness, and intellectual freedom. These are the very ideals that made it possible for the Touro Synagogue to flourish here in Newport, even before the establishment of the United States.”

She said, “In 1770, the Corporation of Brown University was asked by a subscriber whether this religious openness applied to Jews. To clear up any doubt, the Corporation responded by passing a resolution stating that ‘the Children of Jews may be admitted into this Institution and entirely enjoy the freedom of their own Religion, without any Constraint or Imposition whatever.’”

Paxson also noted, however, that while “universities are crucibles where new and sometimes conflicting ideas about social and political issues... They can produce tension within our communities,” such freedoms are compromised “when students object to speakers who had ideas with which they did not agree.”

She concluded with “the simple lesson that the cost of freedom of expression in a diverse society is that … people express themselves, sometimes in ways that rub their neighbors the wrong way. I am glad that the Touro Synagogue stands as a symbol of liberty and tolerance to which we continue to aspire.”

On a lighter note, Paxson asked how “a Jewish woman named Christina” can speak in this venue.  She revealed that although raised a Quaker, she converted to Judaism after she met and married Ari Gabinet.

The lessons of George Washington’s letter came into sharp focus when the Alexander George Teitz Award was given to the Southern Poverty Law Center and accepted by Alan Howard, the SPLC chair. It is clear that tolerance is a goal yet to be attained even in 21st century America. Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, the Center works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.

The event concluded with a festive reception in Patriots Park.

SAM SHAMOON, a resident of Providence, is a member of the Touro Synagogue Foundation Board of Directors.