A storied synagogue on St. Thomas

In the tropical climate of the U.S. Virgin Islands, it’s not particularly strange to walk inside a building and find sand beneath your feet, as you do when passing through the arched entryway of the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, in Charlotte Amalie. There’s a story behind the sand, as there is for almost every nook of the landmark building nestled into the Caribbean island streetscape known as Synagogue Hill. The St. Thomas synagogue is the second oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere and longest running congregation under the American flag.

Charlotte Amalie, the capital and largest city on the island, harbors steep streets to rival the South Side Slopes, and we had heard the trek was hard on weak knees, so reaching our dock-to-door destination along Krystal Gade (Danish for “street”) was left to a friendly cabdriver. An address was unnecessary. We just said, “The synagogue, please,” and 10 minutes later, we were there, near the top of a residential street and beside a car with a sign in its window that read “Cantor is in the synagogue.”

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We wandered through the building that had been constructed in 1833 by the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, also known as the Congregation of Blessing, Peace and Loving Deeds. The congregation was founded in 1796 by Sephardic Jews, many of whom arrived on island shores after fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. Nine Jewish families belonged to the congregation in 1801, but by 1823 that congregation swelled with arrivals from other European countries and island colonies. A citywide fire destroyed the synagogue in 1831, and the building we were standing in was completed two years later. Only once in all the passing years, when Hurricane Marilyn struck St. Thomas, were Sabbath services not held here.

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Oh, and the sand. She could go on and on about that. There are four sand-floor synagogues in the Western Hemisphere. By some accounts, the sand floors relate to 40 years spent wandering the desert in search of the Holy Land. More likely, said Becker Krasnick, the covering commemorates the way Spanish Jews were forced to practice their religion in secret.

She explained that the only way to survive the Inquisition was to convert — or pretend to convert. The cantor said Jews would hide mezuzas in the feet of statues of the Madonna at the entrance to their homes. They also would practice their religion in cellars and muffle the sound by spreading sand on the floors above, which is the most likely explanation for the indoor sand floors.
There are about 60 current resident members of the congregation, and others — including snowbirds and people who support the historic building — are regular or occasional worshipers.

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