Another Jewish Promised Land?

In the burgeoning U.S. economy of the 19th century, pioneering merchants ventured West to target the ambitious fortune-seekers of the Gold Rush. They went beyond Californiaâ??s borders, supplying goods to the rapidly growing sugar and coffee plantations of Hawaii. With their foreign manners, the English and German Jewish merchants making the journey were easily identifiable.

These days, the islandsâ?? most easily recognizable Jews are the handful of Chabad families spread across the Hawaiian archipelago. The islands of Maui, Kauai and Oahu â?? home to the first Chabad outpost in the Pacific â?? each host their own leadership. So does the largest land mass of them all, Hawaii, the Big Island. In 2007, a New Jersey native, Rabbi Avremel Chazanow, married a daughter of Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky, who had launched Chabad of Hawaii in Honolulu in 1987.