St. Thomas Islandu.s. virgin island

Founded by the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas in 1796, St. Thomas Synagogue is the second-oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, and the oldest in continuous use under the American flag. It is the only synagogue on St. Thomas. At first it was a congregation with just nine families as members but that number later grew 10-fold, and then more. Even today a Reform Judaism service is still held every Sabbath (which is during Friday sunset to Saturday sunset), with just one missed week—when Hurricane Marilyn roared through St. Thomas in 1995. Visitors are invited inside the Sephardic style building—built in 1833 to replace the original structure that perished in a fire—to view exquisite mahogany benches, six Torahs, local quarried stones, bricks sailed over from Europe and other architectural details.