Congregation Shearith Israel, represented pro bono by lead counsel Louis M. Solomon of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, won a complete reversal in the First Circuit Court of Appeals of a lower court decision that had erroneously turned Touro Synagogue over to its tenants.
Congregation Shearith Israel, the country’s oldest Jewish congregation (dating from 1654), has owned Touro Synagogue (the oldest synagogue building in America, dating from 1760) since the early 19th century. The original congregation of Newport Jews had left Newport, Rhode Island, after the turmoil of the Revolutionary War period, and many became members of Shearith Israel in New York.