It was then that she began trying to get a little ahead in her administrative work at the Chabad center so she could get to the convention. Mrs. Krasnjansky had to schedule the winter vacation at the Lubavitch-run Hebrew school to coincide with the late January convention, arrange for a substitute to conduct her weekly women's Torah class, and make sure the mailing she was working so hard on came back from the printer a few days early. Last week her Chabad center, which serves all the Hawaiian islands, hosted a massive Shabbaton, so this week, in her absence, things would be a bit less intense.

Then there was the small matter of packing suitcases for her six children and herself for the 17 hour trip.

Along with her husband, Rabbi Itchel, Pearl Kransjansky established the Honolulu Chabad center in 1987, in a Jewish community of more than 15,000 spread out on all of Hawaii's islands. Overwhelmed by the natural beauty of this tropical garden paradise, the Krasnjanskys nevertheless have had to struggle to cultivate Jewish spirituality on the islands.

"Hawaii is physically enchanting but can be quite hostile spiritually. If we weren't making such important inroads it would be very hard to push on," relates Kransjansky.

Attending the New York convention each year for the past 13 years, Mrs. Kransjansky is made aware of the disparity between the nourishing religious environment where she was brought up and the transient, sometimes remote, nature of Jewish life in Hawaii.

But she'll be bringing back from the Women Emissaries' convention to Hawaii more than just frozen gefilte fish, bagels and pre-cut plastic table clothes from Brooklyn.

"It's reassuring to be able to feel real solidarity with the other women at the convention," states Mrs. Krasnjansky decisively. "It lasts me through the year in Hawaii."