St. Thomas Synagogue

St. Thomas Synagogue, officially Congregation Beracha Veshalom Oogemiluth Hasadim or The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, is a historic Reform Jewish synagogue located at 2116 Crystal Gade, Queens Quarters, in Charlotte Amalie on the island of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The synagogue building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

WWW Official Site

History

The congregation was founded in 1796 by Spanish and Portuguese Sephardic Jews who had come to the Caribbean Basin to finance trade between Europe and the New World. The building was constructed in 1833, and is the second oldest synagogue in the United States. As a result of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Category 5 hurricanes which ravaged much of the Caribbean and St. Thomas in September 2017, the synagogue sustained significant damage, but has remained in continuous operation during this time under the leadership of Rabbi Michael Feshbach.
As of March 2023, the congregation is led by Rabbi Julia Margolis.

Description

The St. Thomas Synagogue stands north of Charlotte Amalie's central business district, on the north side of Crystal Gade near its junction with Raadets Gade. It is a single-story structure, built out of rubblestone joined by a mortar mix of lime, sand, and molasses, and covered by a shallow pitch hip roof. Its front, separated from the street by an entry courtyard, has a Greek Revival temple front, but with Gothic Revival arched window openings. The façade is recessed, with the temple pediment supported by brick pillars with Tuscan styling. On the interior, the Torah ark is located on the east wall, with the tevah, on a dais against the west wall. The center of the chamber is demarcated by a square of four Ionic columns mounted on pedestals, and there are rows of bench pews on the north and south walls. The seating areas of men and women are separated by movable wooden partitions.