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.


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. Earlier this week, 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 York-based 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.”

Read more: https://thepublicsradio.org/article/touro-synagogue-s-future-uncertain-as-long-time-newport-congregation-faces-eviction