Lawyers for New York and Newport congregations argued before a 3-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Boston, over a District Court decision awarding the nation's oldest synagogue to Newport-based Jeshuat Israel.

BOSTON -- The two Jewish congregations vying for control of Touro Synagogue in Newport sparred with vigor Wednesday before the federal appeals court.

Louis Solomon, lawyer for New York City's Congregation Shearith Israel, argued to the three-judge 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. was wrong to award authority over the nation's oldest synagogue to Newport-based Congregation Jeshuat Israel. McConnell's ruling cleared the way for the Newport group to sell ornate bells, it said, to protect the synagogue's financial future.

Solomon asserted that Shearith Israel held a 1903 lease to the synagogue and as such was the rightful owner of the building as well as the bells, valued $7-plus million. He cast the lease as a "valid and vital" agreement. Solomon insisted, too, that the congregation wasn't seeking to evict Newport Jews from the synagogue, but the Jeshuat Israel congregation itself.

"So long as the cathedral was there, the finials [bells] would be part of it," Solomon said. Shearith Israel has objected to the sale of the silver finial bells, or Rimonim, saying it runs counter to the traditions of the Orthodox Spanish and Portuguese, or Sephardic, Jews who founded the synagogue.

"That is what we want enforced," Solomon said. He charged that McConnell had no right to remove Shearith Israel as the Touro's trustees.

But Gary Naftalis argued for Jeshuat Israel that the bells were not part of the lease the two congregations entered into in 1903. Naftalis told the court that the Newport congregation has served as the keepers of the storied synagogue and its relics since the 1700s.

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who sat on the panel Wednesday, asked Naftalis why that 1903 agreement and others reached and documents over the past century don't supersede the synagogue's more dated, historic records. Judges Sandra Lynch and Bobby R. Baldock joined him in that line of inquiry.

And why had Jeshuat Israel paid Shearith Israel a lease for all those years? Souter asked.

"The lease covers the synagogue," Naftalis said. "It doesn't cover the Rimonim, period." If the lease had intended to convey ownership of the bells to Shearith Israel through the 1903 agreement, it would have stated so explicitly, Naftalis said.

"What could paraphernalia possibly refer to if it's not personal property?" Souter said, referring to the agreement's language.

"We would suggest paraphernalia was used for fixtures ... not for the Rimonim," Naftalis said.

Judge McConnell in May declared Jeshuat Israel the rightful caretaker of Touro Synagogue and its religious artifacts. McConnell named Congregation Jeshuat trustee and removed Shearith Israel from that role, saying it strayed from its obligation to ensure public Jewish worship at Touro.

The dispute was sparked in 2012 when Congregation Jeshuat asked state court to declare it the owner of the decorative silver finial bells, crafted in the 1700s by renowned Colonial silversmith Myer Myers. The move would have cleared the way for the congregation to sell the bells to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for $7.4 million. The museum later withdrew the offer.

Shearith Israel took the case to federal court, asking for it to be found as the rightful owner of the synagogue, its grounds and all its possessions. It sought to end Jeshuat Israel’s lease of the building.

Neither party would comment afterward about any impressions they drew from the judges' questioning, other than to say it was clear that the panel was very well versed on the case and the issues in play. In closing, Judge Lynch thanked the lawyers for the high quality of their advocacy.

- kmulvane@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @kmulvane