| Judah Touro |
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Information AboutJudah Touro |
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He was the son of Isaac Touro, a rabbi of Portuguese origin who led the synagogue of Newport who left during the American Revolution and settled in Jamaica . In 1783 his father died and the family moved back to the United States. His mother died in 1787, and the rest of his childhood he was educated by an uncle. In 1801 or 1802 he went to New Orleans, where he opened a store; he eventually became a prominent merchant and shipowner. Though in poor health, he enlisted in Andrew Jackson's army in the War Of 1812 ; physically incapacitated from fighting, he volunteered to carry ammunition to the batteries in the Battle Of New Orleans , in which on Jan. 1, 1815 he was so seriously wounded as to be given up for dead, but was saved by a friend. Judah Touro's lasting fame, however, was as a philanthropist. He contributed $40,000 — an immense sum at the time — to the Jewish cemetery at Newport, and bought the Old Stone Mill there, at that time thought to have been built by Norsemen, giving it to the city: the park surrounding it is still known as Touro Park. In New Orleans he used his business profits to buy and endow a cemetery, and to build a synagogue, an almshouse and an infirmary, as well as a Christian church for a minister whom he greatly admired. He was a major contributor to many Christian charities in New Orleans, as well as to such varied causes as the American Revolutionary War monument at Bunker Hill , and the relief of victims of a large fire in Mobile, Alabama . At his death, his estate provided endowments for nearly all the Jewish congregations in the United States, bequests to hospitals and orphanages in Massachusetts, and the seed of a trust to support almshouses in Jerusalem. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery of Newport. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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