Announcing

Twin Cities:
Twice As Nice

the only

LEWIS ERIC LACHTER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

nonstop from

FUTURE

JeWiShCOMMUnit Y Center

BUILDING FOR THE

Chicago to Israe

MARTIN & ESTHER CAP? BUILDING

RENOVATIONS

•

Only 11'% hours. On a comfortable 747-400, no less. With flights every Monday
and Wednesday, and a TV monitor for every seat with a choice of movies. And
it's the only nonstop return, too. Call your travel agent or EL AL at 800-223-6700.

The Airline of Israel

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ISRAEL

NO ONE BELONGS HERE ;\10.:E THAN YOU

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The Jewish Community Center

presents the

Cunard Dynasty Cruise
to the
Panama Canal

January 17 through January 29, 1996

Cruise Package Includes:
• Round-trip airfare from Detroit
• Airport transfers
• Pre-cruise night in Fort Lauderdale at the Ramada Beach Resort
• Round-trip transfers to the Flea market in Fort Lauderdale
• Pre-paid gratuities

JCC Group Prices from $2,175 per person

For more information come to the Maple/Drake
JCC on October 10, 1996 at 7:00 p.m.
R.S.V.P. 810-661-7637

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72

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/73,4,1

Rates are per person, based on double occupancy inside category. Ship registry: Panama.

CUNARD

.

Travel

LOU LACFITER

. . ;

The Twin Cities have a new JCC under way.

T

he color of Minneapolis/St.
Paul, Minn., in the sum-
mer is a beautiful deep
shade of green. In the
spring, the color is a pretty pale
green. The fall brings all kinds
of lovely colors to the many trees
north and south along the me-
andering Mississippi River.
But the winter. The winter is
cold. The winter in Minneapo-
lis/St. Paul is Minnesota cold.
That means very cold; and you'll
find lots of snow, too.
But everything is up and run-
ning during the frigid season.
The snow on the roads is quick-
ly cleared, and the freeways are
dry and driveable in record time
(usually). The airport never clos-
es. All the movies, theaters,
restaurants are open and busy
even in the worst weather.
And the Twin Cities: Jewish
communities are among the
warmest in the country — no
matter the season. Not only
warm, but highly organized,
highly effective.
The two towns are very close
together geographically. Only a
fairly narrow section of the
grand Mississippi separates
them. But there are two Jewish
federations, two JCCs, two Jew-
ish Family Service units. Some
day there might be one of each
of these agencies, but old ways
of doing business are hard to
change.
The St. Paul Jewish commu-
nity is older but much smaller
than Minneapolis.' German
Jews arrived in St. Paul in the
1850s and 1860s. They estab-
lished the Mt. Zion Temple even
before Minnesota became a
state. The Reform synagogue,
which is located on Summit Av-
enue (not far from the governor's
mansion and F. Scott Fitzger-

ald's home) is celebrating its
40th anniversary this year.
The next wave of Jews came
to St. Paul from Eastern Europe
in the 1880s. By 1916, the Con-
servative Temple of Aaron was
built in northeast St. Paul. The
JCC opened in the same neigh-
borhood in 1930. Today, both the
stately Temple of Aaron and the
bustling JCC are located in the
Jewish Highland Park section
of town.
It is interesting to note that
both Mt. Zion Temple and Tem-
ple of Aaron have husband/wife
fully ordained rabbis.
The Orthodox synagogue in
St. Paul is Adat Israel. It has
many members who live in the
fairly large Lubavitch commu-
nity.
St. Paul has about 11,000
Jews; Minneapolis has over
31,000. The total population of
greater St. Paul is about
500,000, while Minneapolis has
little over 1 million people.
Even though the Twin Cities
have a relatively small Jewish
population, the 1992 election for
the U.S. Senate seat had a Jew-
ish Democrat running against a
Jewish Republican.
Minneapolis has more Jews
than St. Paul, more synagogues
(11 to 4), more Jewish schools.
Hillel is located in Minneapo-
lis, as is the American Israel
Chamber of Commerce. The
JCRC and High School in Israel
program are both headquartered
in Minneapolis, but serve both
towns. The Twin Cities nursing
home for Jewish seniors has
buildings in St. Paul and Min-
neapolis.
Although Jews are relative-
ly few in number, the Twin
Cities have a Jewish theater, a
chapter of Parents of North

