PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The nation's oldest Jewish congregation says it plans to appeal a decision that removed it as trustee of the nation's oldest synagogue.
Congregation Shearith Israel in New York filed a notice Tuesday saying it would appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A federal judge in Providence, Rhode Island, last month ruled in favor of the congregation that worships at Newport's Touro Synagogue in a dispute over who should control the 250-year-old synagogue and who owns a set of ceremonial bells worth millions.
A lawyer for the Newport congregation says there's no merit to any appeal.
Disputes between the congregations have been going on since the 1800s.
In 1790, George Washington sent a letter to the Touro congregation pledging America's commitment to religious liberty.
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