Touro (Family : Newport, R.I.)

The Touro family of Newport, R. I. was a family of wealthy merchants, famous philanthropists, and prominent Jewish community leaders.

The Touro siblings (Abraham, Judah, and Rebecca) were the children of Rabbi Isaac Touro (1737-1783) and Rebecca Hays Touro (1743-1787) of the Boston Hays family. Rabbi Touro was originally from Amsterdam, Netherlands, but moved to Newport, RI to become the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Jewish community. Rabbi Touro was in charge of building and overseeing the Sephardic Orthodox Synagogue (the original name of the Touro Synagogue), but as a British Loyalist, he fled with his family to British New York at the beginning of the American Revolution.

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