75th Annual George Washington Letter Reading: Honoring Religious Freedom
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. George Washington’s 1790 letter “To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport” was written during his first trip to Rhode Island as President and 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 stated, “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” The annual event has a long tradition of distinguished keynote speakers and letter readers, including Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.
2022 marks the 75th annual reading of the famous letter, and the honor goes to Rita Slom, a long-time member of Congregation Jeshuat Israel and the Touro Synagogue Foundation board. Dr. Kevin Butterfield, Executive Director of The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, will deliver the keynote address.
The event will be at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 21, at Touro Synagogue and will be available for live viewing on the Touro Synagogue Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TouroSynagogue.
For more information on this or any other Touro Synagogue Foundation event, please email tours@tourosynagogue.org.
To learn more about President Washington's 1790 letter to the congregation that worshiped in Touro Synagogue, our nation's oldest surviving Jewish house of worship (dedicated 1763), visit this webpage:
https://tourosynagogue.org/history/george-washington-letter/
ABOUT TOURO SYNAGOGUE FOUNDATION:
Originally known as “The Society of Friends of Touro Synagogue,” the Touro Synagogue Foundation was established in 1948 following the designation of Touro Synagogue, America’s oldest synagogue, as a National Historic Site.
The Touro Synagogue Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, nonsectarian organization dedicated to promoting and teaching religious diversity, colonial Jewish history, and the history of Touro Synagogue. The Foundation provides public access to the historic site, award-winning history tours, lectures, and educational programs for adults and youth.
The Touro Synagogue Foundation operates public programs in partnership with the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, the National Park Service, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. |To learn more, please visit:
https://tourosynagogue.org/
(401) 847-4794, ext.
207 or
tours@tourosynagogue
.org
