By decision of the Boston Court of Appeal, the earliest Jewish community in the United States, Shearit Israel, founded in 1654 in New York, gained control of the Thuro Synagogue in Newport (Rhode Island), the oldest surviving synagogue building in the United States.
This was the result of a long-standing trial.
During the war for the Independence of the USA, Newport Jews left the city and the synagogue came under the control of Shearit Israel. The community supported the building in due order before the beginning of the 20th century. Newport did not have a new Jewish community, called "Yeshuat Israel."
In 1903, a contract was concluded between her and Shearit Israel, according to which Yeshuat Israel received the back synagogues for rent for a symbolic sum of 1 dollar a year.
However, in 2011, the board of the Yeshuat Yisrael community, in need of money to keep the synagogue after the 2008 crisis, decided to sell silver jewelry for the Torah scroll (rimonim), made in the 18th century by the famous jeweler Mayer Myers, for $ 7 million to the Museum Fine Arts in Boston.
The Shearit Israel tried to block the deal, but the representatives of Yeshuat Israel filed a lawsuit in court to recognize the community's ownership of the synagogue and its furnishings.
In May 2016, the District Judge of Rhode Island, Jack McConnell ruled in favor of "Yeshua Israel." This decision was reversed by the verdict of the Boston Court of Appeal, announced on August 2. The lawyer of "Shearit Israel" (who is also the president of this community), Lewis Solomon, stated that the community is satisfied with this decision.
"I see no reason why we can not return to the relatively harmonious relations that existed between our communities for more than 100 years before they decided to sell something that did not belong to them," he said.
The lawyer of Yeshuat Israel, Harry Naftalis, for his part, announced that the community would probably continue the struggle.