Touro Synagogue

Designated as a National Historic Site in 1946, the Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in the United States. Built in the mid-eighteenth century, the Synagogue has provided American Jews a place of worship since the Revolutionary War, and still maintains an active congregation today as visitors of all faiths come to experience the site exhibiting Rhode Island's history of religious tolerance. The Foundation annually supports the George Washington Letter Celebration – an event honoring the nation's heritage of religious freedom. through The reading of George Washington's 1790 letter to "To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island" – a document which affirmed for all people the new national government's absolute commitment to the free exercise of religion, which he regarded as an "inherent natural right".