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The Jewish Community
Adult Day Care Program can help.

Older adults with Alzheimer's disease
and related disorders benefit from:

• A safe, caring environment

• Therapeutic activities and socializing

• Personal care and health monitoring

• Kosher meals and snacks

Family members will receive respite
and support.

For information, call Peter Ostrow, (248) 559-5000

Locations: Dorothy and Peter Brown Centers at Jewish Vocational Service,
29699 Southfield Road, Southfield and, opening spring 2000, at Jewish Home and
Aging Services, 6701 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield.

A program of the Jewish Home and Aging Services and Jewish Vocational Service,
in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Association-Detroit Area Chapter.

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Commission
on Jewish
Eldercare Services

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

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United 3ewish
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Wishing The Entire Community A Happy Passover
from the Sales Staff of

VOGUE

FINE MEN'S EUROPEAN FASHION

6520 Telegraph at Maple
Bloomfield Plaza • Bloomfield Hills

248-855-7788

a thriving tourist center, where the
cultures of visitors and locals intersect
as readily as do streets with names like
Calle Dr. Rosenberg and Calle David
Stern.
And tucked between a thatched-
roofed resort disco and a small hotel
sits a well-tended, pastel-colored
building, no bigger than a one-room
schoolhouse, with a crooked stained-
glass menora and Star of David above
the door.
The shul, built by settlers, contrasts
rather sharply with Sosua's barrio of
El Batey. The grounds of the temple,
shaded by palm fronds and bordered
by tall hibiscus, offer respite from the
brutal Caribbean sun and incessant
buzzing of motorcycle taxis as they
weave among cars, drivers honking in
warning, threat and familiarity.
The beat of salsa and merengue is
palpable everywhere. A woman walks
down the street out front, a laundry
basket of wares atop her head. The
baseball diamond across the street sits
idle, ready to spring to life in the
evening when local teams come out to
play pelota, "ball" in Spanish.
The small Jewish community, num-
bering a few dozen, according to one
resident, meets for services occasionally
and for holiday celebrations at
Chanuka, Purim and Pesach. For the
past couple of years, lay leaders have
conducted services since a visiting rabbi
and a cantorial student from Buenos
Aires returned home after each spent a
year with the congregation.
Jews are a tiny minority in this pre-
dominantly devout Catholic country.
But, according to Sylvie Papernik, the
daughter of settlers who met en route
to Sosua, now in her late 50s,
"Growing up as a child, I never
remember a bad experience with anti-
semitism."
Locals are familiar with the syna-
gogue and quickly offer directions
when asked. Reflecting a sense of
acceptance, in response to a question
about Jews in his country, a non-
Jewish Dominican businessman said,
"We have Jews," and he rattled off a
few names. "Well, they are
Dominicans," he said, "but their roots
are Jewish."
Besides a handful of original set-
tlers, now in their mid-80s and 90s,
some children and grandchildren of
settlers have made their lives in Sosua.
Felix Koch, 82, still runs his guest-
house with his native Dominican
wife, Gloria. Of his life he says, "The
past is the past. I am here. I am at
peace. I am happy." ❑