WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Congregants from the nation’s oldest synagogue have testified that they were in financial straits when they decided in 2012 to sell a set of ceremonial bells worth millions and now at the center of a dispute with the nation’s first Jewish congregation.
The congregation that worships at the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, and Congregation Shearith Israel from New York are suing each other in federal court.
The New York congregation says it owns the bells.
In a third day of trial on Wednesday, congregants testified they had no reason to believe the New York congregation had a claim on the bells.
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston rescinded its $7.4 million offer to buy the bells amid the dispute.
