Freedom, Tolerance, Acceptance

2016-05-20 12.05.35

The oldest surviving Colonial American synagogue is in Newport, representing Rhode Island’s commitment to religious, political, and personal freedom.  With the contentiousness and ridiculous attack on civil liberties by the presumed Presidential candidate, how refreshing to reconnect to principle American values.

Even George Washington thought so, writing a letter to the Hebrew congregation of Touro Synagogue stating “To Bigotry, No Sanction.”

With the Spanish Inquisition, specifically the Alhambra decree after their civil war declaring that all Spaniards must be Catholic, some Jews converted (Conversos), others pretended to convert but dangerously still practiced Judaism (Cryptos), and others fled.  This diaspora generally took Jews to Portugal, which soon found the similar need to Catholicize, and then Amsterdam, famously tolerant until the Portuguese took it over.

Fleeing the Portuguese again, the first Jews came to New York in 1654 and were barely tolerated by Peter Stuyvesant who enacted severe restrictions on Jewish involvement in civic life.  The next group decided to test Rhode Island, known for its separation of church and state.  Soon Cryptos were coming out by leaving Spain for Newport.  By 1677, the Newport group had enough demand to buy land for a burial ground.

 

2016-05-20 12.34.32

By 1763, the Sephardic congregation wanted a Rabbi and couldn’t find one willing to come to the hinterlands from progressive Amsterdam.  Until Isaac Touro, who hadn’t finished his training, came and became the namesake for the newly built synagogue.  The location is not off in some periphery, but adjacent to Newport’s historic center (just as its congregants were central to Newport life).

2016-05-20 12.31.10

What a beauty!  I’m a complete sucker for anything Palladio-inspired, and so was the architect Peter Harrison.  The Italian architect Palladio created pattern books, so his style spread through the European-connected cultures.  The secret was to know how to place the parts from the patterns.  Balance, symmetry, harmony are the principles.  Nice with the freedom, tolerance, and acceptance that Rhode Island embodied.

You can see how lovely the space is, with its dentil molding, arched Palladian windows, the ancient-Greek-inspired pediment, balustrades, and Ionic columns on the men’s level and Corinthian columns on the women’s balcony (yes, this was always and still is an Orthodox congregation).  Each column is a solid tree, smoothed before painted.

Harrison had to work with more than Palladio’s pattern books to design for the needs of the congregation.  He may be turning over in his grave with the asymmetrical placement of the President’s box, where important people including JFK, Eisenhower, and presumably George Washington attended services. When the President of the congregation has been a woman, she, alas, sits upstairs, not in the downstairs box.  Some things just can’t be tolerated apparently.

The raised bemah placed in the center of the space for the Rabbi is a Sephardic tradition.  Opening the ark housing the Torah and bringing it to the Rabbi for the reading involves a short procession.  This synagogue’s Torah was already 200 years old when it was brought from Amsterdam in 1763, and we got a quick glance at its browned pages.

1760s eternal light and candlesticks bought for a bar mitzvah, by the bimah

1760s eternal light and candlesticks bought for a bar mitzvah, by the bimah

Throughout the centuries and today, the pull to America has been about freedom and the chance for a better life.  What a nice reminder that at some points in our history, those ideals were gloriously met, for the greatest good of all involved.

2016-05-20 12.30.56

 

So much in common

Going to Newport, RI means excess, so no wonder I found myself most attracted to The Elms.

The little cottage just like mine

The little cottage just like mine

After all, I have the most in common with Miss Julia Berwind.  She and I both worked on our houses.  Now, Julia did spend $1.4 million in 1901, which makes me feel better about what I’ve spent in 2014.  And she only stayed there a couple of months a year there.  My house is a bargain!

The Elms is considered “quiet and sophisticated” compared to the over-the-top opulence of The Breakers, etc.  Certainly my turquoise cabinets and multi- colored counters would also be considered quiet in comparison to the gold and pink marble and molded plaster of Marble House.

And as a woman after my own heart, Julia loved mah jongg!  She regularly played it in her “real summer home for a real family.”

Alas, that’s where the similarities end.  The Elms was a “machine for entertaining,”

Welcoming you at the entrance

Welcoming you at the entrance

representing efficient, Industrial Age America.  Of course, it was also Gilded Age America.  So Julia had 43 servants, who worked 14 hour days.

Julia never saw “the dirt and grime” of the construction process or the parlor maids who, along with the dirt, were kept invisible.  Only male servants were acceptable to see.

My favorite ballroom of the five mansions I visited was also at The Elms.  It opened on all sides, so that the length of the house was accessible and visible end to end.

For the Housewarming Ball, the quadrilles started after midnight, allowing DRparticipants to show off the complex moves which could last two hours per dance.  One of the 400 guests remarked he had so much fun that he never wanted to leave.

Such fun took great planning, and Julia conducted her business, like other Newport hostesses, right from her bedroom.  This social life took great planning.  Julia managed a $300,000 budget for the season and had to plan time well, too.  She’d get mail by the sackful (and we complain about email) and had an elegant pre-printed, pre-stamped rejection letter at the ready.

For all the remaining yeses, not only did any one day require 4 to 7 clothing changes, but strict schedules had to be adhered to–one must always arrive exactly on time for any function.  Too early and one embarrasses one’s hostess; too late, and one throws a kink in the works.

Elms-diningSo please.  When you are next invited to a Newport do, be on time, and don’t put your knife in your mouth!  Rest assured though, when you break a dish or spill your wine, Julia will merely smile.  And she will keep such meticulous records that you will not be seated next to the same dinner companion twice in a season.

Oh, and she will not call you on the telephone.  How rude!  The telephone is only for communicating with the servants.  She will write you a note.  Please respond in kind.

Chances are you won’t spend the night at The Elms.  Julia only has 7 bedrooms.  Don’t worry, she has 3 guest cottages nearby.

Giovanni Boldini portrait of Elizabeth Drexel Lehr, Paris, 1905

Giovanni Boldini portrait of Elizabeth Drexel Lehr, Paris, 1905

Julia and her peers didn’t have the vote and were expected to behave.

Take this story.  Elizabeth Drexel Lehr was told by Harry, her husband, on her wedding night, that not only did he not love her, but that he was repulsed by her.  He married her for her money, and she must avoid him everywhere but in public.  They remained married for 28 years.

So as much as I like and admire Julia (and her friend Elizabeth), I’ll keep my for real cottage versus lust after her Newport one.