A synagogue survives shifting sands.

• Author: Luxner, Larry
• Position: US Virgin Island's Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas

VIOLINIST YITZHAK PERLMAN plans to make an appearance. So does Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, poet Maya Angelou, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They, along with thousands of other people, are expected to flock to the U.S. Virgin Islands over the next two years to celebrate an unusual milestone in Caribbean Jewish history--the two hundredth anniversary of the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas.

The congregation, also known by its Hebrew name, Bracha V'Shalom V'Gmilut Hasidim (Blessing, Peace, and Acts of Loving-Kindness), occupies the oldest Jewish house of worship in continuous use under the U.S. flag, and one of the oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere. The structure's sand-covered floor, mahogany fixtures, and crystal chandeliers have made it one of the island's top tourist attractions.

The synagogue's actual bicentennial won't take place until 1996, but preparations for the big event have long been under way. "We're throwing a party and inviting the world," remarks Rabbi Bradd Boxman, the congregation's thirty-four-year-old spiritual leader and native of Philadelphia.

To be exact, Boxman and his staff are sending out fifteen thousand brochures to Jews and non-Jews in Puerto Rico, the continental United States, and Latin America, urging them to come to St. Thomas and help mark the congregation's bicentennial.

According to Boxman, about fifteen hundred Jews reside in the Virgin Islands. Well over half of them live on St. Thomas, with smaller numbers living on St. Croix and St. John. The congregation's six hundred or so members belong mainly to Ashkenazi families who came here from the U.S. East Coast over the last thirty years. A small minority, however, are black Virgin Islanders whose ancestors settled in St. Thomas many generations ago.

The island's lure for Jews is nothing new. Jewish merchants, ship chandlers, and traders in sugar, molasses, and rum have lived on St. Thomas ever since it was settled by Danes in 1665, though the congregation itself wasn't founded until 1796. Records show that in 1801 only nine families belonged to the Hebrew Congregation, increasing to twenty-two families by 1803 with the arrival of Jewish immigrants from England, France, and the Dutch glands of Curacao and St...