An Early Newspaper Account of the Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, printed in The London Chronicle, London: January 31-February 2, 1764

8 pages (11 x 8 1/8 in.; 280 x 205 mm). Trimmed to size, not affecting text. Loss at upper corner, first leaf, affecting only page number. Weak at central crease, outer bifolio starting. Sewing holes. Tax stamp, p. 4.

This front page article reports a landmark event in the history of American Jewry, the dedication of the new synagogue of Congregation Yeshuat Israel of Newport, Rhode Island. According to Morris A. Gutstein's The Story of the Jews of Newport, there were between sixty and seventy Jewish families in town at the time of the dedication. Rev. Isaac Touro, previously from Curacao, served as the Hazzan of the congregation. In addition to funds provided by Newport Jewry, other Sephardic congregations which contributed to the construction expenses included New York's Shearith Israel (the principal donor outside Newport), and congregations in London, Amsterdam, Curacao and Surinam.

Peter Harrison, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, was the synagogue's architect. The design was in Georgian style, with Harrison's modification known as "classic colonial," influenced by the traditional synagogue architecture of Spanish-Portuguese synagogues in the Netherlands. The structure, commonly referred to as the Touro Synagogue, is the oldest functioning Jewish house of worship in the United States and is today, a National Historic Site.

Following several years of construction and furnishing, the dedication took place on the Friday afternoon of December 2, 1763, which corresponded with the first day of Hanukah of the Jewish year 5523. The annual commemoration of the re-consecration of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE by the Hasmoneans under the leadership of Judah the Macabbee, was doubtlessly seen as an auspicious time for Newport’s Jews to dedicate their own house of worship. Both Jews and non-Jews celebrated the occasion; among the invited dignitaries was Dr. Ezra Stiles, a Christian Hebraist and future president of Yale College.

The account of the dedication describes “… a handsome procession in which were carried the books of the law, to be deposited in the ark,” and called to mind “the Majesty and grandeur of the ancient Jewish worship mentioned in Scripture.”