Touro Synagogue (New Orleans)

Touro Synagogue is a Reform synagogue in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was named after Judah Touro, the son of Isaac Touro, the namesake of the country's oldest synagogue, Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.

The New Orleans Touro Synagogue is one of the oldest synagogues in the United States and USA's oldest outside of the original 13 colonies. The current synagogue was founded in 1881 from the merger of two older (originally Orthodox) congregations: the German Jewish Shangarai Chasset congregation, and Portuguese Jewish (Sephardic) Nefutzot Yehudah congregation.

The current sanctuary building on St. Charles Avenue in Uptown New Orleans was constructed in 1908 and dedicated 1 January 1909.

Beginning in 1828, a mere 25 years after the Louisiana Purchase, the founders of what would eventually become Touro Synagogue started the first Jewish temple outside of the 13 original colonies and the sixth oldest synagogue in the country.

According to the Code Noir (1724), Jews should have been excluded from the French territory of Louisiana. But the business acumen of Jewish merchants proved more important to the financial future of New Orleans than upholding the rules of the French government. Little by little, hardworking Southern Jews settled into a welcoming environment. When President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the 1803 Louisiana Purchase with Napoleon, and Louisiana came under American jurisdiction, Jews acquired the right to freely inhabit what would become the 18th state in the Union, reveling in the value of religious freedom promised by the American Constitution.

...
Wikipedia