USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > Touro Synagogue of Congregation Jeshuat Israel, Newport, Rhode Island > Part 3
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His name is also connected with one of the nation's foremost monuments, namely "The Bunker Hill Monument" of Boston. The cornerstone had been laid by Lafayette in 1826 on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle. But despite the efforts of Daniel Webster and Edward Everett, the money to complete it was not forthcoming, until Amos Lawrence of Boston and Judah Touro of New Orleans furnished the funds to complete the monument, which was dedicated in 1843.
For many years, Touro was virtually the only Jew in New Orleans, but he never forgot his origin or his faith, and he assisted the Jewish community when it became sufficiently numerous to have an edifice of its own. Later on, when a Spanish and Portuguese Congregation was established, he purchased a large church building, and had it remodelled for synagogue purposes at great expense. He devoted much time to the furnishing and embellishment of this edifice as well as the selection of its minister.
Nor were his Jewish activities limited to New Orleans. He took an interest in the efforts of Sir Moses Montefiore on behalf of his people in various parts of the world, and gave assistance to alleviate the plight of the unfortunate Jews in China, and in the Holy Land. Under the provisions of his will almshouses were established in Jerusalem which are still functioning.
In Newport he remembered the famous Jewish Cemetery around which he erected a granite wall with a handsome gateway, and by his will he created a fund for the repair and upkeep of the historic synagogue, which had been closed since the days of the
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Revolution. He also created a fund for defraying the salary of a minister if a sufficient number of Jews again resided there. These funds are now being used for the purposes designated.
Judah Touro died at New Orleans on January 18, 1854. About two weeks before his death, he executed his famous will which provided liberally for various charities, Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic. There were bequests to six Christian Orphan Asylums in New Orleans, including St. Anna's Asylum, St. Mary's Catholic Boys Asylum, the Milne Asylum, and a fund for the establishment of an Almshouse, now known as the Touro-Shakes- peare Almshouse.
Touro's will is of interest in American Jewish annals, for it furnishes an almost complete index of the more important congregations and Jewish institutions of his day. Many of the foremost of these, like the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, were placed on a firm financial basis by his bequests.
The citizens of New Orleans manifested the most profound grief at Touro's death and many were the eloquent tributes to his memory.
Judah Touro had never married. In accordance with his wish his remains were taken to Newport for burial. That city decreed a public funeral, which was attended by the Mayor and the leading city officials. "It was the most elaborate and impressive function at Newport, since the funeral of Commodore Perry in 1826." The tombstone over his grave bears the appropriate inscription, "The last of his name, he inscribed it in the book of philanthropy, to be remembered forever."
The City Council of New Orleans adopted a resolution for the erection of a monument, but this was never carried out. Never- theless Touro's memory has been perpetuated in various ways. When the new State Capitol of Louisiana was erected at Baton Rouge, one of the sculptured panels on its exterior was devoted to Judah Touro. The great Touro Infirmary and the Almshouses in Jerusalem have already been mentioned. Tulane University of Louisiana still awards the gold medals which he established in
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JUDAH TOURO 1775 - 1854 (ARTIST UNKNOWN)
This portrait is now on the North wall of the interior of the Redwood Library, Newport, R. I.
ABRAHAM TOURO 1774 1822 BY GILBERT STUART
Lent to the Congregation Jeshuat Israel through the efforts of E. J. Roussuch, in co-operation with the Trustees of the estate of the late Hiram J. Halle.
1848, while the Touro Synagogue at Newport is still benefited by a fund which he left, and which is administered by that city.
The outstanding feature of Touro's character, emphasized by those who knew him, was his extreme modesty, while the key to his commercial success lay in his fair dealing, and in the loyalty of his employees, who appreciated his uniform kindness.
Touro's charitable and public spirited acts were so numerous and varied that it is impossible to outline them within the confines of this brief sketch. The reader who wishes to obtain further information is referred to the writer's "Life of Judah Touro" which was published by the Jewish Publication Society in 1946.
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EULOGY AT THE GRAVE OF JUDAH TOURO
JUNE 6th, 1854
By REV. ISAAC LEESER
UDAH TOURO departed this life at New Orleans on Tebeth 19th (January), 5614, and by his request, as expressed long before his decease, his body was conveyed to Newport, Rhode Island, and interred in the Jewish cemetery here, on Tuesday, June 6th (Sivan 10th), following. Sixteen con- gregations and societies were assembled, and eight ministers. The Rev. Mr. Gutheim, of New Orleans, delivered an affecting speech at the Synagogue, which had not been opened for many years, and was found in excellent preservation, and the Rev. Isaac Leeser, a personal friend of the deceased, had been selected by the executors to officiate at the funeral and to deliver a speech at the grave. The address will tell its own story, and requires no comment. It simply paints Mr. Touro as his friends knew him.
MY FRIENDS!
What is the motive which has brought us together from so many places, situated at a great distance from each other, to this spot, devoted to the repose of those who have departed this life? What is the cause that on this field of death the unusual assembly of so many Israelites is witnessed, in this city, where none of their brothers in faith have their dwelling? It is not, as you well know, to do homage to the remains of a brave warrior who has fallen gloriously in the defence of his country, nor to honour the memory of one who has won for himself an imperishable renown in the world of letters; but simply to commit to the bosom of the earth what is mortal of our friend, Judah Touro, - a plain man, an unassuming merchant, who breathed his last in the quiet of his chamber, far away in the metropolis of the sunny South, not surrounded by his own flesh and blood, but those who watched over him from motives of duty and affection - an affection enkindled in their hearts by his kindness and uniform charity with which he treated all who approached him. Eighty years have elapsed since the minister of the Jewish congregation which then flourished in this isle of the sea was greeted by the birth of a son; and, after four scores of summer and winter have chased each other over our globe, the wanderings of this son are brought to a close, and he is to be interred here where his kindred sleep, mourned for by many who knew him not when living, honoured by
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those to whom his person was unknown. And ask we "Why?" The answer will present itself at once, if you regard those who surround his bier. He amassed wealth by honest frugality; treasures flowed into his coffers in the pursuit of his mercantile enterprizes; he had no one near him who was bound to him by the ties of blood and kindred; yet he squandred not his acquisitions in extravagance and intemperance, in boisterous wassail or secret debauchery; but he relieved distress when it presented itself to his benevolent eye; when he saw the naked, he clothed them, and those that needed food obtained it at his hands, whether they belonged to his faith and country, or whether they wor- shipped at other shrines, and had first seen the light of day in foreign lands. And if you had seen him in his daily walks, you would not have suspected him to be the man of wealth, and the honoured protector of the poor, as he was, the exterior of our brother betrayed not the man within. But when he gave you his hand, when he expressed in his simple manner that you were welcome, you could not doubt his sincerity; you felt convinced that he was emphatically a man of truth, of sincere benevolence. And thus he lived for many years, un- known to the masses, but felt within the circle where his character could display itself without ostentation and obtrusiveness, at a period when but few of his faith were residents of the same city with him. But when they began to multiply around him, his love for the people of his belief was awakened anew within him, and he looked about himself for the means of supplying a permanent home for his religion in the vicinity where he resided. And if you have ever been in New Orleans, where Mr. Touro lived for full half a century, you will have seen an elegant structure, with the necessary out-buildings attached, which he presented, somewhat more than four years ago, to the congregation, the "Dis- persed of Judah," the Minister and President of which are now present to join with us in entombing the benefactor of their institutions. And if you have ever been present during the hours of worship in the house bestowed as a free gift, without solicitation, on his fellow-Israelites, you may have observed a plainly-dressed old man, seated in a corner in the upper portion of the syna- gogue, devoutly engaged in prayers, not throwing about his eyes to the right or to the left, but feeling, so far as a man might judge from the manner he exhibited, as an humble mortal in the presence of his Creator; and all the honour he ever received was the office of opening the ark where the testimony is deposited before the reading of the law. And if you have been privileged to witness the depositing of the stone commemorating his noble gift beneath the entrance of the synagogue, on the day it was dedicated with song and thanks- giving to the Eternal One, the God of Israel, you would have seen the picture of heartfelt pleasure illuminating his placid countenance, as he, with his own hand, applied the mortar to the tablet which witnesses that he voluntarily parted with a property which others would have regarded as securing them an inde- pendence for life.
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But when his hour came to be summoned away to the place destined for all the living, was witnessed the greatest triumph of his abode on earth. While permitted to look forward to additional years of life, in comparative good health, his natural timidity prevented him from consummating various benev- olent endowments which he had contemplated. But when he saw that his time approached to die, he dictated, with an unclouded mind, the manner in which his wealth was to be appropriated after his decease. And let me call your attention, my friends, to the noble manner in which our deceased brother- Israelite distributed what still was his, and over which both his religion and the law of the land permitted him to exercise an unchecked control. He thought of the widow and orphan in his own city and where he had dwelt in his youth, and devoted a portion of his means to their relief; and those to whom he has confided this trust are not of his own faith and kindred, and probably no Israelite will ever claim any benefit from these funds. He thought of the poor in his own city, and endowed a home of refuge to receive them in the day of their distress. He thought of those of his own persuasion who suffer from the heavy hand of disease, and supplied the means to afford them relief, in several cities. He thought of the new and weak congregations in various towns, and afforded them the means to carry on their holy mission in dis- pensing the blessings which our faith is so well calculated to bestow. He thought of the necessity of diffusing religious education to the children of Israel; and with wise discrimination selected those institutions best calculated to further this end, to make Jewish religion and Jewish literature accessible to the greatest numbers. He thought of those heavenly societies whose mission it is to glide gently into the abodes of the poor, to leave there the traces of benevolence, to cheer spirits which, without this, would droop in despair and gloom, He thought of the afflicted in the land of Israel, to provide for them assistance in their distress, and protection against the arm of violence; he, the merchant in the far West, who had lived for years separated from his people, almost a solitary worshipper of the One God, amidst those who acknowledged Him not alone, forgot not those who still linger on the soil consecrated by so many wonderful events which marked our early history, to cheer them on in the deprivations to which they are subjected. And at last he forgot not cherished friendships, some of which were formed late in life, and left them tokens of remembrance, in terms of affection and endearment. But more than all, he clung, with an attach- ment which nothing could sever, to the man who had stood by him in the hour of trial, on the field where the demon of war made sad havoc among the assailants and the assailed of the place of his residence, and bore him away to a place of safety beyond the reach of deadly missiles; and he felt a pleasure in bestowing on him the residue of his earthly possessions, after satisfying the demands of benevolence - not because he needed this gift, but to show that the friendship which had endured so many years, which had been cemented amidst peace and war, security and danger, deserved to be proved in a manner
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which few have the means to do. And let me say here, in praise of the living, that the gift has been well bestowed, if for no other cause, for the beautiful manner in which the residuary legatee has discharged all the trusts confided to him by his deceased friend; no delay which the law permits has been suffered to intervene in the bestowal of the benefactions; and what Mr. Touro had willed, his friend discharged to the extent he was able to do it.
This, therefore, is the cause of so many being here who knew Mr. Touro only by name; they come as delegates from various congregations and institu- tions to see the grave close over the mortal tenement of so pure and benevolent a spirit; this is the motive which brings Israelites and Christians, the sons of Jacob and the gentile, to mingle their regrets, that one who was so kind, so gentle, so benevolent, is not any more among us to witness the fruits of his benevolence which he has planted, let us trust, in a not barren soil. And well is this a fitting moment to dwell on the beautiful spectacle which could be exhibited scarcely in any other land. We Israelites, strangers in this city, come hither with the body of a beloved brother, and leave him here to be watched over by those who are strangers to our creed; we ask of the citizens of Newport to guard inviolate the grave of our friend; not to suffer the rude arm of bigotry nor the grasping hand of an avaricious march of improvement to invade the repose of the dead: and we are sure that our wishes will be gratified, and our request sacredly fulfilled. But after all, Jews and Christians are alike interested in the deposit we make here; and the city of Newport may well be proud that so rare a philanthropist, who practically exhibited to all the most beautiful traits of a heartfelt religion, was a native of their city; - especially as it is by his own request, expressed several years past already, that he has been carried to the place of his nativity, to sleep in the soil where his mother gave him birth. It is, therefore, to you, citizens of this beautiful gem of the ocean, that we confide the custody; and when Israelites and strangers come hither in after-years, they will thank you for having guarded the dust made sacred by the blessings of so many helpless, whom his well-earned wealth was made to relieve.
But it is time that we hasten to a close. We come not hither to praise a mortal, but to consign him to the earth, the final home to which we all must return; for "dust we are," and "our days are only a shadow on the earth." Yet, ere we fill up the cavity which is called the grave, let us institute a few reflections which the occasion so aptly calls forth. We are met here, at this solemn moment, from many parts of this vast republic, and never after to-day can we all meet again; every one of us will quit this scene to return to his avocations, his business, and pleasures, and what has been witnessed to-day will barely survive as a dream in the memory. Therefore, let us utter some words of advice - peradventure they may have an influence on our thoughts and actions, and induce us to be more faithful to our trust, and true to our duty to God and man. Well says Job, "Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of vexation. Like a blossom he cometh forth, and is cut off; he flieth
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away like the shadow, and remaineth not." We realize this indeed in the residue of mankind, except ourselves; we wonder at the vanity of all earthly striving displayed by others, yet are ourselves as frivolous and vain as all of them. Every man has his foible which he cherishes,-his idol to which he pays adoration. Yet, there are moments in the life of the most careless and worldly, when they realize their mortality, when they are sick and weary of the burden which their vanity has imposed on them. Only one thing we cannot tire of - and this is, the pursuit of what is truly good and beautiful, which is, in other words, the exercise of virtue as expounded in the revealed will of God and its concomitant charity. When our heart overflows with love to our Maker, when we have sacrificed to Him what we cherish of earth and its wealth, we feel that we have done something which dignifies our better self, which ennobles our spirit. When we have parted with our worldly means, to establish some good institution, or to deprive poverty and sorrow of their sting, a glow of holy peace pervades our heart, and we tell to ourselves "This is well done;" for the spirit of God sanctifies our deeds and throws a foretaste of felicity over our soul. Length of years, however, the greatest power, the utmost pleasure, the largest wealth, the highest wisdom cannot afford this; they are all the means of happiness, not happiness itself. Therefore, let us feel that we are mortal, that our path is beset with thorns and briers, but that death itself leads on to everlasting life; and that trials, overcome successfully, confer immortal bliss. Let us be true to our trust, faithful to our God, and we shall obtain, even in a worldly view, more surely the fruits of a laudable ambition, than by following the bent of avarice, hatred, and selfishness, which sooner or later lead to our downfall. But if we love justice, exercise benevolence, and walk humbly with God, we shall secure the good-will of man here, and be children of salvation hereafter.
And now, departed brother, rest in peace! It was not thine to have sons and daughters to weep over thy inanimate clay; but more was given thee - thou wilt have in the house of God an imperishable name which shall not be soon forgotten. And when after-generations drink in the knowledge of the faith which was thine, they will rise up and bless thy memory; inasmuch as thou wast made the chosen instrument to endow with thy labour the schools of learning where they are instructed. And the widow and the orphan and the suffering stranger will breathe thy name, and ask of God to give thee heavenly rest in the abode of the blessed. And may He who is all-merciful forgive thee thy sins and iniquities which thou has committed; for thou, too, like all of us, wast sinful and defective in his eyes; and may He, in reward of what thou has accomplished, accept thy death as an atonement for thy transgressions, and receive thee in his presence as one whose sins are pardoned, whose iniquity is atoned for; and let thee there enjoy the happiness which is in store for the righteous who have done his will. Amen.
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TOTHE MEMANY AS JURAN TOURD
The Inscription on the Touro Monument reads:
To the Memory of
JUDAH TOURO Born, Newport, R. I., June 16, 1775 Died, New Orleans, La., Jan. 18, 1854 Interred here, June 8.
THE JEWISH CEMETERY
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DANA
F HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW'S poem entitled "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport", no less than four different manuscript versions are preserved in the Long- fellow House at Cambridge. The wide divergence between these four drafts - the various stanzas that have been altered or omitted or added - serve to throw no little light on the origin and the development of the poem. The stanzas in the original manuscript which were omitted from the published poem, some of them very powerful, are here printed for the first time.
In the first draft, Longfellow originally began with a stanza about grave-stones in general wherever they are to be found:
In pastures green, in valley, wood and wold,
Shine the white grave-stones underneath all skies,
The dragon-teeth of Death, from which the untold And countless army of the dead shall rise.
This was an idea that Longfellow had already touched on ten years earlier in a poem where he referred to the burial-ground as "God's-Acre". The stanza, however, had nothing to do with the special question of the Jewish Cemetery at Newport, and in all the three later manuscript versions, as well as in the printed text, this stanza was omitted.
As he tells us in his Journal, Mr. Longfellow and his family had arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, on the evening of Friday, July 2, 1852, and stayed "on the Cliff, at Hazard's house, near the beach, with the glorious sea unrolling in changing billows before us". On July 6, he wrote: "How beautifully the soft sea spreads its broad feathery fans upon the shore." Three days later, with the sound of the sea still singing in his ears, mingled with the noises of the streets in this sea-port town, he came upon the old
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Jewish Cemetery and was immediately impressed by the quiet and silence of the grave-yard in contrast to the surrounding noises of the city and the sea. Accordingly he wrote in his second draft:
How strange it seems! These Hebrews in their graves! The noisy street - the moving up and down - The low, perpetual murmur of the waves, The tumult and the traffic of the town!
The first line of this stanza he kept unchanged throughout all four manuscript versions; but the last three lines of this stanza were variously changed about so as better to bring out the contrast between the silence and the sound, between the stillness and the motion.
Next Mr. Longfellow noticed the thick foliage of the hemlocks and the willows, which were then covered with mid-summer dust blown from the town, but which seemed to shelter the Jews who lay in dark mystery below. In the first draft the stanza ran:
The trees are white with dust, that o'er their sleep Float like a cloud upon the south wind's breath; These are the leafy tents, in which they keep The Exodus and Passover of Death.
Seeking out Mr. Nathan H. Gould, the custodian of the Cemetery, Mr. Longfellow was then admitted to the sacred enclo- sure of the House of the Dead, which the Jews called the "House of the Living." There Mr. Gould pointed out to him the more important tombs. In his Journal for that day, Friday, July 9, 1852, Mr. Longfellow wrote:
Went this morning into the Jewish Burying Ground, with Mr. Gould the Tailor, a polite old gentleman, who keeps the key. There are but a few graves; nearly all are low tomb-stones of marble; with Hebrew inscriptions and a few words added in English or Portuguese.
Among the names, are Isaac Mendes Seixas; Moses Lopez; Jacob Lopez; Abraham Rodriguez Rivera, (in handsome raised letters) ; Moses Alvarez; and at the foot of each the letters
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HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
July 1852
Friday Op . Wenn's this susining into it - Jewish . Burying trong , with Ar. could it . Dailer . a politi alds geruchman , who keeps its very . there are buts few : graves ; novaly ale are low Bombestored, of marble : wink. hebrews inscriptions and a few words added in English as Portasque Amony the names , are Isaac, Mender Coisas ; Moses Lopez: Jacole Lopes ; Abraham Rodriguez Riveras. ( in handsome raised letters); Meses alleraneyi ands ats che fast of each I. leless S. A. G 1). C+ is as shady mook at the corner of two fully, frequented streets , with an ion fewer, and a granite gateway erected at the expense of M. Jours of New Orleans ; the combo of whose ancesless nie routine ostentationly in this in closure .
Over one of the grawes crows as wearing willow, from a ship lation from the tree over Napoleon's grave at SC. Udelena; at two removes ;. the grand child of that will on
Facsimile of the page from the diary of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on the occasion of his visit to Newport in 1852.
S.A.G.D.G. It is a shady nook at the corner of two dusty, fre- quented streets, with an iron fence, and a granite gateway erected at the expense of Mr. Touro of New Orleans; the tombs of whose ancestors rise rather ostentatiously in the inclosure.
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