History of Touro Synagogue Foundation

Originally known as “The Society of Friends of Touro Synagogue,” the Touro Synagogue Foundation (TSF) was established in 1948 following the designation of Touro Synagogue as a National Historic Site. The mission of the TSF is two-fold: preserve and maintain Touro Synagogue and educate the public about its powerful story. To that end, the TSF has played a leading role in the restoration of Touro Synagogue, both in 1954 and, more recently, in an extensive, 3.5 million dollar restoration completed in 2006. The Foundation was also instrumental in building Patriots Park, which honors colonial Jewish leaders, and in 1982 worked with the United States Postal Service to create a stamp featuring Touro Synagogue.

Every summer, Touro Synagogue Foundation partners with Congregation Jeshuat Israel to host The George Washington Letter Reading, an event honoring our nation’s heritage of religious freedom. Written during his first visit to Rhode Island as President of the United States, George Washington’s 1790 letter to “To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island,” affirmed the new national government’s absolute commitment to the free exercise of religion, which he regarded as an “inherent natural right.” The federal government, he affirmed, “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” The annual event has a long tradition of distinguished keynote speakers, including Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan and Frances Malino, the Sophia Moses Robison Professor Emerita of Jewish Studies and History, Wellesley College. The event also includes the presentation of the Judge Alexander George Teitz Award and the Aaron and Rita Slom Scholarship for Freedom and Diversity.