The Unknown Story of Judah Touro

There are synagogues, streets, a hospital, and a major Jewish university system named after Judah Touro. His name is associated with the highest level of charity for both Jewish and secular institutions. But few people know his remarkable life story.

Judah Touro was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on June 16, 1775, to Chazan Isaac Touro and Reyna Hays. His father, Chazan Isaac Touro, was born in Amsterdam in 1738. He migrated to the New World in 1758 at the age of twenty. In 1760, Chazan Touro was appointed as the spiritual leader of Yeshuat Yisrael in Newport, one of the first Portuguese Sephardic congregations in the American colonies.

Judah Touro

Under the leadership of Chazan Touro, Yeshuat Yisrael constructed a new synagogue building, which today is the oldest synagogue building in the United States with daily services. (It is the second oldest synagogue after Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, in New York City.) Chazan Touro was a close friend of leading Colonial academic and the future President of Yale College, Ezra Stiles.

Shortly after the outbreak of the American Revolution, Newport was taken by the British, and the Jewish supporters of the revolution fled. The synagogue closed, and Chazan Touro ran with his family to Kingston, Jamaica. He died there on December 8, 1783. Subsequently, Judah’s mother returned to the United States with her children, welcomed by her brother, Moses Michael Hays, who had helped found Boston's first bank. She died in 1787, and Hays became the guardian of the Touro children. He raised them and later trained them in his business.

Rabbi Isaac Touro, portrait by Gilbert Stuart

At the age of 22, Judah Touro successfully oversaw the sale of a valuable shipment to the Mediterranean, indicative of his early financial and business acumen.

Starting Anew in New Orleans

In 1801, Touro left for New Orleans, located in the French territory of Louisiana, which was then a small town of approximately 10,000 inhabitants and home to only a handful of Jews. Some conjecture that he moved because he had asked his uncle for permission to marry his daughter, Catherine Hays, but his uncle did not agree. Touro never married, but his move to New Orleans brought with it tremendous financial success.

Through hard work, frugal living and conservative investments, Touro became one of New Orleans’ wealthiest men. Commenting on the small apartment he lived in, he observed, "I have saved a fortune by strict economy, while others had spent one by their liberal expenditures."

He was confident New Orleans would grow and invested in properties that he bought for cash, on which he built buildings and then collected rent. The Louisiana Purchase encouraged the region’s growth, and he continued to prosper.

In the War of 1812, he volunteered with the Louisiana Militia under Andrew Jackson. He was seriously wounded during the Battle of New Orleans and was left for dead. A Christian friend and fellow soldier, Rezin Shepherd, found him and saved his life. Touro and Shepherd would remain close for the rest of their lives.

Rezin Shepherd

Little Connection to Judaism

Touro's name will always be remembered as one of the foremost in American Jewish philanthropy. However, what is not well known is that until he was almost 70, he had little connection to Judaism or to the Jewish community. He had inherited traditions from his parents, but the connection was so weak that his charity was overwhelmingly directed to non-Jewish and even Christian causes.

There are records of charity he gave for churches, almshouses, an infirmary for sailors suffering from yellow fever, and for the relief of victims of a large fire in Mobile, Alabama. He donated generously to American causes and funded the purchase of the Old Stone Mill in Newport, so that the historic landmark could be given to the town. In 1840, Touro gave $10,000 to complete the Bunker Hill Monument, which had been floundering for years. In fact, there is a fascinating poem by America’s great orator, Daniel Webster, at the dedication ceremonies in 1843, thanking Touro and Amos Lawrence for their funding of this monument:

Amos and Judah—venerated names
Patriarch and prophet press their equal claims.
Like generous coursers running "neck to neck,"
Each aids the work by giving it a check,
Christian and Jews, they carry out one plan,
For though of different faith, each is in heart a Man.

One of Judah Touro's few Jewish donations from his early years was $20,000 (approximately $1 million in today's currency) given to the Jewish Hospital in New York City, now known as Mount Sinai Hospital.

The Power of Caring

In 1840, Gershom Kursheedt arrived in New Orleans from New York. This seemingly innocuous event would result in Judah Touro, then in his early 70s, becoming an observant Jew later in life, a very rare occurrence in those days.

Gershom Kursheedt

Gershom Kursheedt was born in 1817 in Richmond, Virginia to a distinguished rabbinical family. His father was Rabbi Israel Baer Kursheedt, and his mother, Sarah Abigail, was the daughter of Rabbi Gershom Mendes Seixas, the renowned spiritual leader of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York for fifty years. Gershom’s father had studied in the yeshiva of Rabbi Nosson Adler and was possibly the first Ashkenazi Torah Scholar to come to America.

Young Gershom was known for his passion for Jewish learning and Jewish causes. He was a student of Rabbi Isaac Lesser, one of the most renowned Jewish leaders in colonial America.

Kursheedt had moved to New Orleans to work in his uncle’s retail business. He was horrified at the lack of Jewish observance by Jews there. Intent on changing things, he managed to persuade Touro to fund a new synagogue that would be built on the Torah values of Touro’s parents. Touro agreed to purchase a building, which was then renovated into a synagogue that could seat 470 people.

Step by step, Touro became more invested in the synagogue and, as a result, more invested in his own Judaism. With the encouragement of Kursheedt and Rabbi Leeser, Touro agreed to pay the salary of Rabbi Moses Nathan to serve as the shul’s rabbi. After the shul’s dedication in 1849, Touro began to attend prayer services regularly. He also built a school next to the shul in 1851.

Incredibly, within a few years, Judah Touro became a completely observant Jew. Testimony to his Sabbath observance is seen in a letter he wrote, thanking local firemen for their valiant help in rescuing one of his properties from a fire. He ends the letter by saying, "Saturday, on which the fire occurred, being my Sabbath, has prevented me from sending this until this morning."

A Battle of Wills

A few years later, in 1853, Touro fell ill and asked his two friends, Rezin Shephard, who had saved his life during the War of 1812, and Gershom Kursheedt, who had reconnected him to his Judaism, to come to his bedside to discuss his will.

He wanted to distribute the majority of his assets to charity and sought their help in deciding the donations. One can only imagine the diplomatic tug of war as each tried to advocate on behalf of the causes they believed in!

In fact, after Touro's death, Kursheedt wrote to Rabbi Leeser, "If you knew how I had to work to get that will made… you would pity me … [There were] arguments, changes, and counter-changes in the sums for institutions, till my heart sickened."

In the final will, Touro bequeathed $500,000 to institutions around the country, which is worth tens of millions today. Touro's bequests were, at that time, the largest ever left by an American citizen to charitable institutions.

One beneficiary was the Touro Synagogue of Newport, which reopened and was renamed in honor of both Judah Touro and his father, Chazzan Isaac Touro. Touro donated funds to every existing traditional synagogue in the United States. Many hospitals, orphanages, shelters for the poor, asylums, libraries, and schools received funds. (Touro University, built almost 200 years after Touro lived, was named in memory of Judah Touro and his father, Isaac Touro, as they exemplified the vision Touro University was looking to create with their educational institutions.)

Touro Synagogue, Uptown New Orleans

Touro earmarked $50,000 for poor Jews in Palestine and assigned Kursheedt co-executor with Sir Moses Montefiore of this bequest. Kursheedt traveled to England to meet with Montefiore, and the two traveled to Jerusalem to determine how best to use the Touro bequest. Initially, they had planned to use the funds to build a hospital, but upon returning to Israel in 1857, they discovered that the Rothschild family had already constructed one. They decided to build housing for the poor of Jerusalem. The cluster of houses became the first Jewish neighborhood outside the old city walls, known as Mishkenot Sha’ananim.

Montefiore later wrote a letter to Kursheedt saying, "It must be a great happiness to you to know that with your great influence with the late Mr. Touro... you have been the means to directing the eyes and hearts of many of our Brethren toward the Holy Land and contributing to the welfare of our coreligionists now dwelling in that land of our Fathers."

Mishkenot Sha’ananim

Montefiore was absolutely correct. Since it was Touro’s will, it was also Kursheedt’s will. It was Kursheedt who brought Judah Touro back to Judaism and, as a result, towards Jewish philanthropy.

Touro left the residuary estate, valued at almost half a million dollars, to his old friend, Rezin Shepherd.

Judah Touro died two weeks after writing his will in New Orleans on January 18, 1854 (18 Tevet).

His body was taken to Newport, where he was buried in the old Jewish cemetery alongside other family members.

Touro’s return to Jewish observance when he was over 70 is an inspiring statement about the possibility of change at any age. It is also testimony to the everlasting impact of an individual who was upset about assimilation and cared enough about his fellow Jews to do something about it. Both Judah Touro’s and Gershom Kursheedt’s eternal legacies continue to live on.