PROVIDENCE — A lawyer for congregants at the oldest synagogue in the United States said they want to take their fight for ownership of the Rhode Island synagogue to the US Supreme Court, after an appeals court let stand a decision giving control of it to a New York congregation.

The First US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to grant congregants at Newport’s Touro Synagogue a rehearing in a bitter struggle over who owns and controls Touro and a set of ceremonial bells valued at $7.4 million.

Gary Naftalis, who represents the Newport worshippers, Congregation Jeshuat Israel, said they were disappointed by the decision granting ownership to Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan.

‘‘We will seek review by the United States Supreme Court to continue our fight to preserve the Touro Synagogue and the rights of Congregation Jeshuat Israel, the only congregation that has prayed there for over a century,’’ he said in an e-mail.

Shearith Israel is the nation’s oldest Jewish congregation.