George Washington Letter Reading

The 76th annual reading of the George Washington Letter took place at Touro Synagogue on Sunday, August 20, 2023. To honor the theme of public service, former Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, was this year’s reader of the Washington Letter. Angela Johnson, Rogers High School social studies teacher and the 2021-2022 Newport Public Schools Teacher of the Year read the Seixas letter. David Cicilline, former Congressman from Rhode Island and now the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, delivered the keynote address.

The event was live-streamed on the Touro Synagogue – Newport, RI Facebook page.

Click here to watch the video.

Honoring Religious Freedom

Every summer, the 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 “To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport” was written after his first trip to Rhode Island as President. In his eloquent reply to a letter written by Moses Seixas, warden of the local Jewish congregation, Washington attested to the new government’s commitment to freedom of religion, an entitlement 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. Our most recent keynote speaker was Dr. Kevin Butterfield, Executive Director of the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, Mount Vernon. The program includes presentations of the Judge Alexander George Teitz Award and the Aaron and Rita Slom Scholarship for Freedom and Diversity.