USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > The story of the Jews of Newport; two and a half centuries of Judaism, 1658-1908 > Part 16
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The Reverend Henry Samuel Morais of Philadelphia was invited to officiate on those High Holy Days.7 The
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Rabbi Abraham Pereira Mendes.
RECONSECRATION
Reverend Mr. Morais was the son of Dr. Sabato Morais, the eminent divine and spiritual leader of the Congrega- tion Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, and one of the founders of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The Newport synagogue was without any ritual objects. These had been taken away when the services at the synagogue ceased at the end of the eight- eenth century, and had been deposited for safe-keeping in the synagogue of the Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. To replace these, Sefarim and other necessary ritual objects for the services were sent to Newport from New York.
Once again, on the traditional anniversary of Creation, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the ancient and beautiful prayers were heard within the walls where long before "reverent feet had trod". Again the voice of Israel was heard chanting in unison, 'Hear O Israel'. Again the Shofar's blast sounded through this venerable shrine, evoking memories of countless ages filled with suffering and with joy. That day the memory of the Lopezes, the Riveras, the Seixases and the Touros was on everyone's lips.
These services were only temporary. There were not as yet enough Jewish families in Newport to warrant the holding of regular services. On October 25, 1881, after the holy days the Shammas (Sexton) of the New York Congregation was directed by the Board of Trustees to bring back from Newport, "the Sefarim &c. loaned to the Synagogue there for services during recent Holy days".8
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
Before a year had passed, a movement began in Newport to reestablish regular services at the synagogue, on every Sabbath and holy day. It was proposed as well to organize a Jewish religious school associated with the synagogue. For this purpose the Newport Jews addressed a communication to the Reverend Dr. H. Pereira Mendes. Dr. Mendes immediately presented the communication to the Board of Trustees of his Congregation at a meeting on December 13, 1882. The trustees referred the matter to a committee of three, together with the president, with instructions "to propose as early as possible a definite plan for the reestablishment of Services in the Newport Synagogue under suitable auspices."9
In the meanwhile this matter had been taken up with the Newport city authorities. On December 21, the committee of the Board of Trustees of the Congregation Shearith Israel of New York reported, presenting a re- solution passed by the Newport Town Council granting permission to reopen the Touro Synagogue permanently and to employ the services of a Minister who should conduct the services and supervise the religious instruct- tion of the Jewish youth. The resolution of the Town Council expressed the desire that the call to the Newport pulpit be extended to the Reverend Abraham Pereira Mendes of London, the father of the Reverend Dr. Mendes of New York.
The report of the committee is thus recorded in the minutes of the New York Congregation, under date December 21, 1882. "The Committee appointed at last
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meeting on the subject of reviving Services at the Newport Synagogue presented copy of a resolution adopted by the Newport City Council Nov. 7, 1882, by which the Committee of Finance of Said Council was authorized and empowered to act in relation to a Minister of the Touro Jewish Synagogue and the income of the Fund for his support, whereupon the following resolutions were adopted: Resolved, that in View of the fact that the Rev. Abraham P. Mendes at present the Preacher of the Cong. of Spanish and Portuguese Jews of London proposes to take up his residence at Newport, R. I., and to engage at that place in the instruction of Jewish youth, it is proper that suitable arrangements should be made for the reopening of the Touro Synagogue.
"Resolved that a call to the Ministry of said Synagogue is hereby extended to the Rev. Abraham P. Mendes, who is hereby designated during the pleasure of this Board as the Minister of Said Synagogue, and the religious instruction of the Jewish Community at Newport.
"Resolved that the Civic authorities of the Touro Fund are respectfully requested to place said Minister in charge of said Synagogue, and to make such allowance out of Said Fund for his salary as the condition of the Fund may admit".
Abraham Pereira Mendes was born in Kingston, Jemaica, on February 9, 1825. His first position was as instructor in the Beth Limud School of Kingston. At an early opportunity, he resigned his position in
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
Kingston in order to go to London, England, and there to pursue his studies for the ministry. In London he studied under Dr. Raphael Meldola, and the Reverend D. A. de Sola, from whom he received his Rabbinic diploma. He afterwards returned to Kingston and became assistant minister to the Reverend Isaac Lopez, Minister of the Kingston Sephardic Congregation. From here he was called to occupy the pulpit of the Montego Bay Congregation. With them he stayed until 1851, when he was elected Minister and Preacher of the Birmingham Congregation in England, a post at which he remained until 1858. At that time, he moved to London, where he was for six years the head of the Neveh Zedek school continuing in the meanwhile his ministerial and literary work. On the death of Chacham Artom, the Reverend Mr. Mendes for a brief period acted as the preacher and "dayan" of the Sephardic community in London. While he was thus engaged, the call to Newport came to him asking him to occupy the pulpit in the historic Touro Synagogue.1º He gladly accepted the Newport invitation, and he reached the city early in the year 1883.
The first official rabbinic duty that he performed in Newport was the reconsecration of the synagogue. This event invited the attention of the entire population of the city. The prolonged anticipation of it was finally realized on Friday, May 25, 1883. A number of invita- tions were sent to notables of the community, as well as to a number of prominent persons outside of Newport. An invitation was also extended to the Board of
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RECONSECRATION
Trustees of the Congregation Shearith Israel of New York, and the Rev. Doctors Pereira and de Sola Mendes.
On Friday afternoon, May 25, 1883, the reconsecra- tion services were held before a crowded congregation consisting of Jews and non-Jews. The feeling in the synagogue was as intense as it had been when the beautiful building was dedicated in 1763. The synagogue was brightly illuminated. The candelabra suspended from the ceiling bore lighted candles that shed their soft radiance through all the corners of the edifice. Amongst the honored guests of the congrega- tion were the Mayor Robert S. Franklin, Judge Tillinghast of the Supreme Court, City Treasurer Coggeshall, several of the local clergymen, several officers of the City Government, Dr. Henry E. Turner of the Newport Historical Society, and the noted Newport historian George C. Mason.11
The exercises were very similar to the dedication ceremonies which had taken place in this very building on December 2, 1763, one hundred and twenty years before. the scrolls of the Law, which had been kept in New York, and once more brought back to Newport on this occasion to be permanently deposited in the Ark of the Newport synagogue, were carried by the Reverend Dr. Frederick de Sola Mendes and his brother, the Reverend Dr. H.
Pereira Mendes, both of New York.12 These two ministers brought the scrolls of the Law to the door of the synagogue. They were preceded by their father Abraham Pereira Mendes. Upon reaching the door and knocking as a sign that they sought admission, the three
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
rabbis in unison chanted in Hebrew the verse, "Open to us the gates of righteousness, we will enter them and praise the Lord". To this the congregation within responded, chanting, "This is the gate dedicated to the Lord, the righteous shall enter therein".
As the rabbis entered the synagogue and proceeded with the scrolls to the Tebah, the entire congregation together with the ministers chanted in unison several verses from the Psalms, beginning with "Blessed be he who cometh in the name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord". The procession then proceeded to make the circuit of the synagogue, during which time the Consecration Psalm xxx was chanted by the minister and the congregation. After the procession returned to the Tebah, the perpetual lamp, which had not burned for close to a century, was lighted, and twice the entire congregation chanted in unison the verse, "The Lord shall reign for ever; Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations, Hallelujah". The scrolls were then taken in procession and deposited in the Ark, during which time Psalm XXIX was chanted.
Rabbi Abraham Pereira Mendes offered a prayer for the government in English and in Hebrew. This was followed by a memorial prayer for the Reverend Isaac Touro, the first minister of the synagogue, and for his two sons, Abraham and Judah, whose beneficence had endowed this beautiful shrine.
The impressive reconsecration services were followed by the Sabbath eve service chanted by the Reverend H. Pereira Mendes. After this, Rabbi Abraham
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Pereira Mendes preached an excellent sermon, using for his text the verse in Isaiah 11:5 "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins".
Thereafter Rabbi Mendes conducted regular services on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings as well as on the holy days and festivals. He established a religious school for the Jewish youth, which he conducted as in the old days in the side building adjacent to the synagogue. Besides the services at the synagogue, the Reverend Mr. Mendes delivered lectures on various occasions, and in general quickened the spiritual life in the new growing Jewish community.
On June 23, 1885, he read a paper before the Newport Historical Society on the Jewish Cemetery at Newport. This has subsequently been published in the Rhode Island Historical Magazine, Volume VI, and has become the standard work on its subject. With great effort, he succeeded in deciphering all the inscriptions on the tombstones and in rendering them into a beautiful English. The Reverend Abraham Pereira Mendes was well fitted for this work, and he did it very skilfully. He had to his credit a number of published works, which he had written prior to his coming to America. As early as 1855, he published a volume of sermons in English, which was the first work of this type from the pen of a Sephardic rabbi. He translated the daily prayerbook. He also finished the translation of the festival and holy day prayerbooks, which had been begun by his father-in-law, the Reverend D. A. de Sola.
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
Besides this he had written and published "The Law of Moses, "Post Biblical History of the Jews", "Interlineary Translation of the Prayer-Book" and an edition of the "Hagadah".14
In 1887, an additional Sefer Torah which had belonged to Newport, was brought back from New York and deposited in the Ark.15 The news that the Newport synagogue had been reconsecrated and reopened for permanent services reached a certain Mrs. Edward Cohen, who was at the time living in Washing- ton. She was a lineal descendant of Moses Michael Hays of Newport and had in her possession two sets of silver bells which once had adorned the scrolls of the Newport synagogue. Mrs. Cohen inherited these bells from her family in Richmond. We may recall here that Jacob Rodrigues Rivera bequeathed his "Five Books of Moses wrote on parchment by me heretofore deposited in the Jewish Synagogue in Newport, toge- ther with the Silver Bells and other ornaments thereto belonging". Apparently, the scroll and bells though deposited at times in the Ark of the synagogue, still remained the property of Mr. Rivera. This probably was also the case with the silver bells in the possession of Mrs. Cohen. Mrs. Cohen herself was also connected with the Myers family. At the synagogue now there are two sets of silver bells inscribed "Hays and Myers", which, judging by the inscriptions, date back to pre- Revolutionary days, and which are said to have been the contribution of these families. May it not be these silver bells that Mrs. Cohen had in her possession? The Hays
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Order of Service
TO BE OBSERVED AT THE
Re-opening of the Touro Synagogue, NEWPORT, R. I. on Friday, 19th Iyar 5843 .- 25th May, 1883.
The persons appointed to carry the Scrolls of the Law, will bring them to the door of the Synagogue.
The minister, preceding them, will then chant;
פתחו לנו שערי צדק נבא בם נורה יה :- 1Minister
Open to us the gates of righteousness, we will enter them and praise the Lord. זה השער לה׳ צדיקים יבאו בו : - Congregation
This is the gate dedicated to the Lord, the righteous shall enter therein.
Having entered, Minister and Congregation chant-
תַּרוף הבּא בּטם יי בּרכנוכם מבית יי אל יי ויאר לנו: אסרו חג בּעבותים עד קרנית המובּח אלי אתה ואורך אלהי א וממך: הידו לי כי כוב כי לעולם חסדו: הודו ליי כּי כוב כּי לעולם חסדו: Blessed be he who cometh in the name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord. God is Lord and He hath enlightened us. Bind The sacrifice with myrtle branches to the horns of the altar. Thou art my Lord, I will praise Thee O my God, I. will extol Ther. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.
The procession then proceeds to make the circuit of the Synagogue during which the following Psalm is chanted by the Minister and Congre; Ration.
מזמור שיר חנוכת הבית לדוד ונ ׳- Palm XXX
A Psalm aud Song of the dedication of the house of David. I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted rue up, and hast not made my fors to rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. Oh Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave : thou hast kept me ali e, that I should not go down to the pit. Ning unto the Lord, () ye saint- of his, and give thanks at the remembranco of his holi- ness. For his anger en fureth but a moment ; in his favour is life: weeping may endure tor a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And in my prosperity, I said I shall never be moved. Lord, by the favour thou hast made my mountain to mand strong: thou didst hide thy face. and I was troubled. I eried to thee, O Lord; nad unto be Lord I made supplication. What profit is the 'e in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust. praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? Hear. O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper, Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my Backcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may ring praise to il. e, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever
The Minister and bearers of the Scrolls having returned to the Telah, the following is chanted :-
ימלוך ה׳ לעולם אלהיך צ׳ון לדור ודור הללו ה:
The Lord shali reign for ever; Thy God, O Zion unto all generations Hallelujah. (repeat) מזמור לדוד הבו וכו׳ -- .Paalin XIX
A Psalm of David. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto tho Lord the glory due nnto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thunder etlui the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voico of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the codate of Lebanon. He maketh them also o skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young tricorn. 'The voice of the Lord div Jeth the flame of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the vierness; the Lord alasketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord milch the hinde to culve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory The Lord sitteth upon the flood ; yea, the Lord sitteth King icrever. the Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless big people with peace.
Prayer for the government.
Prayer in memory of Isaac, Abraham and Judah Touro SABBATH EVE SERVICE.
SERMON ? py Rév. A. P. Mendee.
Byain - ידל אלהים'ח - Extolled and praised be the living God.
Order of the Service at the Reconsecration of the Synagogue.
RECONSECRATION
family, it is known, moved ultimately to Richmond. and it may well be that, when they left Newport, they took with them these two sets of silver bells from the synagogue.
On March 2, 1892, Mrs. Cohen addressed a letter to Rabbi Abraham Pereira Mendes in Newport, asking him to accept these silver ornaments for the scrolls of the synagogue.16 Shortly afterwards, the beautiful antique silver bells once again adorned the old scrolls.
The Reverend Mr. Mendes ministered to the Congregation of the Newport synagogue, which by now had become known as the "Touro Synagogue", for ten years. On April 4, 1893, while on a visit to his children in New York, he was gathered to his fathers and there laid to eternal rest.
At the synagogue, a handsome tablet was later erected to his memory, expressing the love of the congregation for its pastor.
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CHAPTER XIV ADJUSTMENT
The Spanish-Portuguese Jews and their descendants are very zealous, that synagogues founded by them or in their control, should maintain and uphold the Sephardic tradition in the ritual of the services. This problem of the ritual arose as early as 1730 in New York, when the Congregation Shearith Israel was completing its first synagogue on Mill Street. At that time, the New York Congregation appealed for aid to various other congregations who responded graciously. Amongst them was the Congregation of Curacao, where the Reverend Raphael Jeshurun officiated as Chacham. We note that, when he sent his collection to New York, he specified definitely: "Now I must tell you that the Members of this Holy Congregation Whom devotly Contributed to Wards this Benefaction, as they know that the (asquenazum) or Germans, are more in number than Wee there, the desire of you not to Consent not Withstanding they are the most, to Let them have any More Votes nor Authority then they have had hitherto and for the performance of Which you are to get them to Signe and agreement of the Same by all of them, and that one Copy of the Sayd agreement Remain in the
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Hands of Mr. Luis Gomez as the Eldest Member, and Another to be Sent to me for the Treasurer of this Congregation to Keep in his Books, and as this request is funded in Solesiting the Peace and Unety of that Holy Congregation I hope that you as Well as the Asquinazim, Whom all I wish God may bless, Will Comply With this my Petition for our devines tells us that the foundation of the Begist Blesing that God found to Bless his dear people was Peace (as it is written) God Bless his People With peace With which he may Bless and Keep you many years-according to his power -- "
The Curacao Congregation in making its gift desired definite assurance that the ritual would be maintained according to the traditional Spanish- Portuguese Minhag.1
The same problem seemed to have arisen in regard to the new-born Jewish community in Newport, which was developing rapidly. This problem was very vexing to the New York Congregation, which was zealous to maintain the old form of worship as practiced in the Newport synagogue when it was first organized. As long as Rabbi Abraham Pereira Mendes lived the problem did not arise. With his death, not only the question of the ritual arose, but also the matter of a congregation.
The problem of the ritual was more aggravated because of the current Reform movement, which swept the entire United States like wild fire. With the immigration of the German-Jewish element, the
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
German-Jewish Reform movement began to develop in this country, and before long it took root in many old congregations, as well as in those newly organized. What the traditional Spanish-Portuguese Jew avoids more than the Ashkenazic ritual, is the Reform movement, and the Reform ritual in the Synagogue, and rightly, because of their high regard for the religious traditions and observances in the home and the synagogue, which have been woefully neglected and in many cases totally abandoned by Reform Jews.
This apprehension moved the New York Congrega- tion Shearith Israel, who were at this time in charge of the Newport synagogue, to look with suspicion on the new Jewish community of Newport. Fortunately their suspicion was not well founded, for the new Jewish community was essentially traditional in character, and as eager to preserve traditional Judaism as the Spanish- Portuguese Jews in New York, but guidance and care on the part of the New Yorkers were nevertheless still necessary.
By the time the Reverend Mr. Mendes died, the new Jewish community of Newport, had not as yet formed an organized congregation. The old "Congregation Yeshuat Israel" had long ago been dissolved. Another congregation had not come in its place. The problem arose in Newport as to the organization of a new cong- regation. The Jewish people there were divided in their opinion as to the nature of this new congregation, and as to which of the Jewish residents of Newport should constitute this new body.
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ADJUSTMENT
On June 13, 1893, the Board of Trustees of the Congregation Shearith Israel of New York were the recipients of a communication from the Reverend David Baruch, whom they had appointed as the minister of the Newport synagogue to succeed the Reverend Abraham Pereira Mendes, to the following effect: - "Two seperate bodies had organized at that place, each claiming to exercise authority over the Synagogue and appurtenances, one of which had applied to the Legislature for a charter".2 The Reverend Mr. Baruch recommended by the New York Congregation, was, of course, accepted and recognized by the Council of Newport as the minister of the synagogue and was paid his salary from the Judah Touro Ministerial Fund.
The Reverend David Baruch was born in Amsterdam, Holland, on April 19, 1847. He was of Sephardic origin and conducted the services at the synagogue according to the Sephardic ritual and in the Sephardic pronuncia- tion, as had the Reverend Mr. Mendes.
The Jews of Newport who applied for a charter decided to call their newly organized congregation by the same name as that by which the old congregation had been known, namely Yeshuat Israel, spelling "Jeshuat" with a "J", instead of with a "Y", as the name had been spelled before.3
The charter for the new Congregation was granted by the legislature on June 13, 1894. The act of the legislature passed on that date read: "It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
"Section I. Eugene Schreier, Giacomo Seroadio,
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
Louis Hess, Henry Hess, Isaac Bergman, Julius Engel, Israel J. Josephson, Alfred Schreier, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation by the name of the Congregation Jeshuat Israel, for the purpose of religious worship, in the city of Newport, according to the Sephardic Ritual and strict rules and laws of the orthodox Jewish Faith".4
The stationery of the new Congregation Jeshuat Israel contained in its heading three lines. The first read: "Touro Synagogue Chambers". The second line in Hebrew, read: "Holy Congregation Yeshuath Yisrael", the third line read simply, "Congregation Jeshuat Israel". The date of the incorporation appeared in all letterheads, giving both the Hebrew as well as the American date.
The newly organized Congregation Jeshuat Israel obtained the privilege of holding its services at the old synagogue and of applying the proceeds of the Judah Touro Ministerial fund for the upkeep of its minister, religious services and school. The Reverend David Baruch automatically became the minister of the new Congregation Jeshuat Israel. Thus not only were the old synagogue and its services revived as had been the dream of the Touros, but the new Congregation bore the same name as the old one.
The Congregation Shearith Israel of New York, zealous to preserve the old Sephardic ritual in the synagogue, anticipated the granting of the charter to the new Congregation Jeshuat Israel with an act of conveyance or "Deed of Trust", which the remaining
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legal heirs of the old synagogue in Newport made to them in April, 1894. This not only reaffirmed the rights of the Congregation Shearith Israel in the trusteeship and control they had held with relation to the synagogue for practically a century and which has never been challenged, but definitely determined the nature of the worship and the ritual that must be observed in this historic edifice.
In this "Deed of Trust", the conveyers definitely specify that they give the synagogue“herein above described and every part thereof, to use and apply the same, or cause the same to be used, occupied and employed for the maintenance therein of the usual and stated Religious Services according to the Ritual, Rites, and Customs of the Orthodox Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as at the time practiced and observed in the Synagogue of this Congregation Shearith Israel in the City of New York now located at No. 5 West 19th Street in Said City".5
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