Historic Touro Synagogue In Newport, Road Island Opens Visitors Center

(IsraelNN.com) The oldest synagogue in the U.S. opened a visitors center Sunday. The Newport, Rhode Island $12 million center opened next door to the historic synagogue. The Touro Synagogue was built in 1759 and dedicated in 1763 by Congregation Jeshuat Israel, which was first established in 1658.

Former Ambassador John L. Loeb, financier of the visitors center, told the Providence Journal that although he was raised in an assimilated Jewish home, his classmates reminded him that he was Jewish. As Loeb’s classmates viewed newsreels of reports of Nazi atrocities in Germany, they taunted him, “We don’t like Hitler, but at least he killed the Jews.” Loeb feels that is what prompted him to explore his Jewish roots. More