Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana (2013)

A Visit to Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana,
Including the History of the Jews of Suriname (2013)

Suriname

Some questions you may have about Suriname: Where is it?  Are there Jews there? What’s their history? What’s their future? Fran and I set out to find the answers during our journey to Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, three countries on the northeast coast of South America.

Suriname is the smallest sovereign country in South America, and the only one with Dutch as the official language. Surinam is considered a Caribbean country even though it is on the mainland.

Suriname was colonized by the English and the Dutch in the 17th century. Known as Dutch Guiana for 300 years, the country achieved independence from the Netherlands in 1975. 80% of the nation is covered by tropical rain forest. The main source of income for the economy is bauxite and other natural resources.

When and how did Jews arrive in Suriname? The Jewish community of Suriname is one of the oldest in the Americas. During the Inquisition in Portugal and Spain around 1500, many Jews fled to Holland and the Dutch colonies (including Northeastern Brazil) to escape torture and execution at the stake. Some Sephardic Jews left Brazil or Holland and, with British permission, settled in Suriname as early as 1639. There is even an existing ketubbah, marriage contract, signed by a rabbi in 1643. A second group of Jewish settlers arrived from England in 1652 settling in a new place they named Jodensavanne, which means ‘Jewish Savanna‘ in Dutch. Surprisingly, it was an attempt to establish an autonomous Jewish territory within Surinam. After the Portuguese took over Brazil in 1654, many Jews left that country, some moving to Suriname. Experienced traders and agriculturists, they set up many sugarcane plantations, which were a valuable asset to the British colony.

Here’s a wonderful trivia fact: After an Anglo-Dutch war, the English traded Suriname for New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1667, and Suriname became a Dutch colony. We were always taught that the Dutch acquired Manhattan from the local Native Americans in an uneven trade involving trinkets and beads, but now we know that in 1667 the Dutch made a bad bargain themselves (I’m making the rash assumption that New York has more valuable real estate than Suriname).

In the late 17^th century, the two small Jewish communities already in existence in Suriname moved to Jodensavanne and more plantations were started. Eventually, the settlement became known as “Jerusalem on the River” and was for some time the largest Jewish agricultural community in the world. Much of Suriname’s economy was built on the fruits of the Jodensavanne plantations, and the Jews grew wealthy.  Not publicized but also true is that much of the trading done was in slaves.

Congregation Beracha ve Shalom

What was the first synagogue in Surinam that we know of for sure? Probably the Congregation Beracha ve Shalom (“Blessings and Peace”), a wooden synagogue in Jodensavanne built between 1665 and 1671. It was the third synagogue built in South America.  A new one, made of  bricks imported from Europe, was constructed in 1685 along with a ritual bath and a cemetery. The synagogue was built on a hill, in accordance with Talmudic interpretation, making it the tallest building in the Jodensavanne town. It was adjacent to the Suriname River, convenient for accessing naturally flowing water for purification rituals.

Jodensavanne declined during the mid-18th century, and most of its population moved to Paramaribo, the capital of Surinam. The colony strived to survive until it was destroyed in 1832 by a slave revolt and resulting fire. Due to its isolated location, the site was neglected and deteriorated over the years. Thanks to the non-profit Jodensavanne Foundation, this unique site is well maintained today, although there are no existing buildings.

The Darchei Yesharim Place of Worship

In the late 18th century, the black and mulatto Jewish community in Paramaribo had their own place of worship, called Darchei Yesharim (Way of the Righteous in Hebrew). The place was torn down in 1800 and the Jewish mulatto congregation ceased to exist 25 years later.

Paramaribo Synagogues

In Paramaibo, differences arose between the Sephardic  and Ashkenazim Jewish communities. (What a surprise!) The synagogue Neve Shalom (Oasis of Peace), built in 1719 in Paramaribo, was sold to the Ashkenazim in 1735. In the same year the Sephardim started to build their own synagogue in Paramaribo called Sedek Ve Shalom (Justice and Peace).

The Sedek v’ Shalom Synagogue

The Sephardic synagogue was active until the Ashkenazim and Sephardic congregations merged in 1999. The building went through extensive renovation and is now leased by the community to a business enterprise. All the contents of the synagogue were leased to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, which built a replica of the synagogue using all the original contents.

The Neve Shalom Synagogue

The original Neve Shalom Synagogue building was constructed in 1719 by Ashkenazim Jews. The synagogue was rebuilt and enlarged to its current size between 1835 and 1837. This magnificent wooden synagogue is the only active synagogue today in Suriname. The Synagogue is a striking landmark of downtown Paramaribo.

The Aron Kodesh (holy ark), Bimah (dais) and the benches are all made of beautiful woodwork. The synagogue boasts several beautiful Torahs, hundreds of years old. A characteristic of the Neve Shalom Synagogue is its sandy floor. According to tradition, the sand is:

• A reminder of the Hebrews’ 40 years in the desert after the exodus from Egypt.
• A reminder of the days of the Inquisition when practicing Judaism was punishable by death. At the time, marranos (secret Jews) met in cellars to practice their Judaism. They covered the floor with sand to muffle the sounds of their prayers.
• All the furnishings were made of wood. The sand was a practical way to prevent devastating fires.

The Neve Shalom Synagogue compound consists of the synagogue; the Mahmad (a wooden community center) used for meetings after the weekly service; the Shamash (office) serves also as a small museum and library. In addition, there is also the 148-year-old Mikvah (ritual bath), the old Rabbi’s house and many of the 18th century gravestones from the old Sephardic cemetery. Right next door is a large, attractive mosque!

We did make arrangements to see this remarkable center of Jewish life. A very pleasant lady, Sra. Maria de la Costa, proudly showed us around the well-maintained synagogue and other structures.

Unfortunately, there are only 100-200 Jews left in Paramaribo, and the synagogue is not in weekly use. Most of the young people have moved to Israel or elsewhere. Senora de la Costa said: “I have a son in Israel, a daughter in Perth, Australia, and two 40-something sons still in town. However, the sons are unmarried. It is hard to find a Jewish single woman here, and even harder to find one elsewhere who will move here.” She added, “I keep kosher, and my food is flown in from a Miami distributor.”

The Jews here are quite prosperous. The congregation was collecting donations not for themself but to make gifts to needy non-Jews. The most surprising thing is that a new rabbi was due to arrive soon from Ireland(!), the first resident rabbi they have had in quite a while. Our guide was concerned, however, that the new rabbi would be too Orthodox for what is both a combined Sephardic-Ashkenazic and an Orthodox-Reform congregation.

So what’s the future? Due to the non-profit foundations, both the Jodensavanne historical site and the Paramaribo synagogue will be maintained, but whether there will still be a viable Jewish community in Suriname is questionable.

Guyana

A visit to Suriname, especially when combined with tours of neighboring Guyana and French Guiana, is very interesting. All three have multi-cultural populations made up of varying combinations of Amerindians, Chinese, Javanese, Indians, Creoles (originally African slaves), mulattoes, Portuguese, and some Western Europeans. There is an accompanying mix of religions: Christians, Hindus, Moslems, with some Amerindian and African spirituality thrown in. The food, too, is varied and good, with different restaurants featuring the specialties of the heritage of their owners.

Guyana is probably best known to Americans as the country where the cult leader of the “Peoples Temple”, Jim Jones, led his followers. It was in 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, that Jones and 980 other people, 300 of them children, died. Tragically, most of them died by drinking a “Kool-Aid” suicide cyanide concoction as instructed by their “messiah”.

But there’s much more to the nation, formerly known as British Guiana. It became independent of Britain in 1966. It is the only English-speaking country of South America. A highlight is a visit to Kaieteur Falls, which actually means waterfall-waterfall, as “kaieteur” means waterfall in the local Amerindian language. It is the highest single-drop waterfall in the world (another unexpected trivia factoid). The uninterrupted drop is 741 feet (226 meters)!

We flew there in a small plane from Georgetown, the capital. Flying over the jungle seems like you are looking down on endless green heads of broccoli. The pilot dips and circles the fantastic waterfall, then lands at a clearing in the tropical forest. After a long walk on a wet jungle trail, seeing Venus flytraps and rare golden frogs, we arrived at the top of the falls, with a magnificent overlook of the wide, thundering cascade. Unforgettably spectacular! (See the photos.)

We then flew to the beautiful secluded resort of Baganara on the banks of a wide river. From there we took an outboard motorboat to visit the gold-mining boomtown of Bartika.

French Guiana

After a few days in Guyana, we traveled to Suriname, and then onto French Guiana. French Guiana is probably best known as the home of Devil’s Island of book and movie fame. It operated from 1852-1953 as a prison with such bad conditions that 75% of the prisoners died. Now its a stop for cruises. In fact, Fran and I visited there in the 1980’s on a ship from the Amazon in Brazil to Miami.

In French Guiana we toured the French and European Aerospace Center. It was built in French Guiana for three reasons:

1) the huge tract of available land to build on;

2) the lack of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, or other possible natural disasters;

3) the location near the Equator. The closer the launch pads are to the Equator, the better thrust the rockets have after blastoff.  We looked at the Ariane 5, Soyuz, and Vega rockets, and the facilities to launch them. Although the tour was in French, there was also a large, well-done air-space museum with bilingual signage. Perhaps the rocket will be a journey for us in the future?

Another highlight in French Guiana was an excursion to a huge outdoor zoo. We strolled on a non-skid walkway through an actual rainforest with spacious enclosures for all the local animals from jaguars to macaws to sloths (the animals are, of course, separated to prevent, for example, the pumas from eating the jungle deer).

After a long drive back, including crossing the border river on an ancient car ferry, we arrived back in Suriname, and flew back to Omaha the next morning.

Visiting the three countries, with the natural wonders of Guyana, the history and jungle of Suriname, and the space center of French Guiana, combined to make an unusual and memorable journey.