Pavel

St. Croix's Appeals
Are Many, Varied

RUTH ROVNER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

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Cabaret Concert

performed by

"Opera Lite"

8:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 19, 1994

Admission: $15.00 Refreshments served Reservations required.

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For information and reservations call the
Cultural Arts Department at 661-7632.

6600 West Maple Road
West Bloomfield, Ml 48322

a)
a)

lthough St. Croix is the
largest of the U.S. Virgin
Islands, it has a lower
profile than the more
well known St. Thomas, the
Caribbean shopping capital
which is 40 miles south.
But St. Croix has its own dis-
tinctive appeal, from the pic-
turesque harbor in Chris-
tiansted to its beaches, natural
beauty and sightseeing attrac-
tions.
Now that American Eagle
has initiated frequent corn-

Co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Center, The Julius
Chajes Music Fund Concert Series, The Manny and Natalie
Charach Endowment Fund and HomeHealth Exchange.

Photo by U.S. Virgin Islands Division of Tourism

• Grand Canyon in Arizona • San Francisco's Alcatraz

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73'

ar plantations of St Croix.
On an island once dotted
with sugarcane fields, there's a
sweet surprise for Jewish trav-
elers: a small but active Jewish
community and a modern syn-
agogue in the Mount Royale
section of the island near Chris-
tiansted.
"We built it in stages over the
past 20 years," says Alan Bron-
stein, president of B'nai Or
(House of Light). A former New
Yorker, he's an accountant
who's been a permanent St.

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muter flights from San Juan
and St. Thomas, visitors can
easily island-hop to St. Croix to
enjoy its varied highlights.
Few Caribbean islands, for
example, have a harbor town
filled with restored 18th centu-
ry Danish houses in pastel col-
ors, a reminder that the Dan-
ish influence on the island
lasted for almost 250 years. So
distinctive is the harbor area of
Christiansted that it has been
designated a historic site, su-
pervised by the National Park
Service.
For nature lovers, there are
a 15-acre rain forest dense with
mahogany and yellow cedar
trees, as well as the 150-foot
high Creque Dam.
Then, too, the St. George Vil-
lage Botanical Garden near
Frederiksted, the island's oth-
er town, is a lush area of tropi-
cal trees, foliage and flowers,
with an entrance drive bordered
by stately royal palms and
bright bougainvillea.
Besides these nature attrac-
tions, there are the Cruzan
Rum Factory with guided tours,
and the Sugarmill Whim Plan-
tation Museum, on the grounds
of one of the many former sug-

Croix resident for 25 years and
a longtime member of the con-
gregation.
"We started small," says Mr.
Bronstein, as we stand outside
the modern one-story building
with its newly built patio sur-
rounded by tropical plants.
Inside, we see the 100-seat
sanctuary, with its striking
hand-embroidered tapestry on
display on one wall, made by
one of the congregants.
Also distinctive is the ark
with its stained glass windows.
One of the Torah scrolls it con-
tains made its way from China
to India to Persia to New York
"and eventually it came to us,"
Mr. Bronstein relates.
No wonder the congregation
was dismayed by the damage
wrought by Hurricane Hugo
several years ago. This small
60-member congregation spent
$125,000 to repair the damage
afterwards, replacing the roof,
the floor and the interior doors.
But the effort was well worth
it; the synagogue is the focus of
Jewish life on the island. Even
though there is no full-time rab-
bi for the congregation, there
are Friday nigh services every
week from Rosh Hashanah un-