Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, is the oldest synagogue building in the United States. A structure of exquisite beauty and design, steeped in history and ideals, the synagogue is considered one of the ten most architecturally distinguished buildings of 18th century America and the most historically significant Jewish building in the United States.

The congregation was founded in 1658 by the descendants of Jewish families who had fled the Inquisitions in Spain and Portugal and who themselves left the Caribbean seeking the greater religious tolerance that Rhode Island offered.

In his famous letter to the “Hebrew congregation at Newport,” written in 1790, President George Washington pledged that our new nation would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” With those words, he set the standard for religious freedom and civil liberties in the United States. Therefore, Touro Synagogue stands as a symbol of religious freedom for all Americans not just Jewish Americans.