Pesah-15 April 1674/ 4 Nissan 5434
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The Haggadah would end late that night. There was plenty of singing, lively conversation in a variety of languages, and more than one glass of rum. Even the Dutchman sang Hallel as he was loaded into his carriage by his Negro driver. David Cohen Nassy however, remained steadfastly sober. As much as he would love a l’chaim, he needed to get back to work the moment he was able. After bidding his guests goodbye, and his family goodnight, he returned to his duties. Anticipating his needs, one of his Negro footmen was already there, still in his livery and powdered wig, to meet him with a full coffeepot, cup, saucer, and a tray of almond biscuits specially prepared for the holiday.
“Thank you, Yitzhak.” Nassy addressed the footman.
“It was my pleasure, sir.” Replied Yitzhak. “Will that be all?”
“Yes, goodnight.” Nassy said, a bit more curtly than he intended.
“Goodnight, sir.” Yitzhak said as he began to exit the room. Before closing the door, Yitzhak poked his head back in and said
“L'shana haba'ah b'Yerushalayim.”
That phrase out of that mouth made Nassy turn his head sharply around. He knew Yitzhak had some familiarity with his religion, all house slaves owned by Jews did. Like any other Jewish planter, Nassy personally oversaw Yitzhak’s circumcision and ritual immersion in the mikveh when he bought him fifteen years ago. He himself said the Hebrew benediction over the confused, scared teenager, who was then unfamiliar with that language. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of Negroes in the same condition as Yitzhak: not Jewish enough to participate in a quorum of prayer, or to be called to read from the sacred Torah, but Jewish enough to serve their masters kosher food. There were times when he heard some his Negroes attempt to pray in the cane fields; singing out in some bastardized combination of Hebrew, Portuguese, Dutch, and the African languages they brought with them. Yitzhak, on the other hand, was on the same level as a free Jew; albeit one without much formal education. As Nassy mulled over Yitzhak’s intermediate status, an idea began to form. On his bookshelf there were the collected rulings of Maimonides, the
Mishneh Torah. Every Sabbath, after services, he took an hour or two to study the rulings of the most esteemed scholar of the Jewish world. Nassy knew that the Rambam had rulings on slavery, but he had not studied them in some time. He picked up one of the books off the shelf, brought it back to his desk, and turned to the second chapter to find an especially pertinent passage.
"A Hebrew servant who is sold by the court {and one who sells himself} can be acquired through the transfer of money or articles worth money or the transfer of a deed of sale. What is implied? The person selling himself writes on a paper or a shard: "I am sold to you," or "I have been acquired by you," and gives him the deed. If the court has sold him, he serves six years from the day he was sold. At the beginning of his seventh year he goes free. If the sabbatical year intervenes during the six years, he continues to serve in it. If, however, the Jubilee year intervenes, even though he was sold only one year before Jubilee, he goes free, as it is written : "He shall serve with you only until the Jubilee year" (Leviticus 25:40). "In this year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession" ."
Interesting. The Rambam was referring to Hebrew slaves, but the pitiful creatures owned by Nassy and his ilk were not Israelites.
"....but they could be
made Israelites." thought Nassy aloud.
As far as he knew, it was theoretically permissible. Jews traditionally did not proselytize. Nassy and his kind came to Suriname to escape persecution and make money, not to convert the heathen. However, there were several Jewish planters who manumitted mulatto children they had fathered by their Negresses, then sent them through pro-forma conversions to be recognized as Jewish. Nassy himself was among them: his youngest daughter, Esther, was born to a now-deceased Negress by the name of Maria. After a violent death in the cane mill only two years after he bought her; it would have been wrong to let this young girl he had fathered in a night of passion grow up without parents. Nassy brought the babe to the center of town and immersed her in the mikveh with the aid of the hazzan. Rivkah was not the least bit happy about it, but she learned to adapt. Nassy would have to get the advice of Torah scholars more proficient than himself, but there were none to be found in the whole of Jodensavanne that could tackle this inquiry. Thankfully, Nassy had another idea. He had recently acquired another three thousand acres from an Englishman that was departing for Virginia. Land was both more plentiful and cheaper over there. His estate included thirty Negroes fit for service, their children, and ten Indians. Nassy had originally intended to experiment with coffee on the land, but finally getting Jodensavanne a
hakham seemed like a better option. If his experiment were to work however, he would need more than one
hakham willing to teach Torah to a mass of converts; not to mention another
mohel and a
shochet to let them be self-sufficient. Nassy knew for sure that the Sephardim would not let them use theirs.
Nassy wrote to any place his Sephardic brethren resided in great numbers. London, Amsterdam, Rome, Livorno, Charleston, Salonika, even Cochin. In his open letter, Nassy detailed a mass of Negroes wanting to be accepted into the People of the Book; and that his community did not have the resources to facilitate their conversion. The fact that Nassy doubted that his fellow planters would allow the conversion to happen was neither here nor there. He advertised parcels of land that were available for any learned men and their families who wished to settle in Jodensavanne, as well as a few Negroes tossed in for good measure. The land would be divided into parcels of six parcels of five hundred acres, and a selection of chattel would be available as well. The parcel that included the plantation house itself would be given to the first ordained man to respond, as well as the bulk of the Negroes. This was not a lot of land in comparison to the other planters in Jodensavanne; but Nassy was selling it for next to nothing, with tools included and crops included! Not to mention the price of a good Negro was worth a significant amount, and Nassy was practically giving them away. He would keep the Indians for himself as part of his experiment.
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June 1677/ Tammuz 5437:
Five years later, Nassy’s gambit paid off. Not only had the general Jewish population had grown by approximately two hundred individuals in that timeframe as well, both from immigration and native-born individuals, but six families would answer his call to settle and convert the Africans. A pair of merchant brothers from Amsterdam with some Torah skill, a
melamed from London, a
shochet from Salonika, a
mohel from Livorno, and joy of joys, a
hakham from Cochin. Nassy had parceled out the land and contracted out Negro builders from Dutch and Jewish planters to build houses on the parcels of land that did not already have them. The notables would trickle in over a five-year span, with the Hakham arriving last. Combined with their extended families, and the autochthonous Indian Jewish servants brought by the Hakham, Nassy’s efforts would inflate the Jewish population of Jodensavanne by thirty-seven individuals. In total, Jodensavanne’s Jewish population would consist of 1737 individuals by 1772, with around 4500 Negroes in their ownership. Naturally, the Hakham's arrival would incite the most excitement among the denizens of Jodensavanne. On the twenty-fifth of June, the notables of Jodensavanne would come out to the docks to welcome and fete him that Tuesday afternoon, Nassy being at the forefront. The venerable Haim De Castro appeared as any other Portuguese Jew. Unlike the planters of Jodensavanne, he had a noticeable beard, neat sidelocks tucked behind his ears, and his Portuguese had a noticeable Indian accent when he spoke. After spending a few days getting to know the locals, Shabbat was observed with rigor. For the first time in Jodensavanne, the service in the synagogue was observed a proper fashion on Friday night and Saturday morning. The Hakham delivered a
debar torah on this weeks
parsha that the congregants listened to with rapture.
Upon the conclusion of Shabbat, Nassy took Hakham De Castro to his plantation to survey a sample of those who’s conversion he would hopefully soon oversee. A brief assessment of a few of Nassy’s slaves made it clear that most of them would be suitable for conversion. It would take time and effort, but it could be done. The teachers and
mohelim assented to follow the hakham’s directive Now all that was left was to assemble the planters and sell them on the idea. On Monday morning, Nassy had a few of his Negro coachmen deliver a message to each plantation in Jodensavanne; that head of each household was to assemble in Beracha V’Shalom on Wednesday evening. Before business was conducted, everyone gathered to pray both
minha and
arbit consecutively-the afternoon and evening prayers. The spiritual essence of their tefilot was elevated by the presence of the Hakham. Once their prayers were concluded, the hakham the planters, and those who were otherwise educated in Torah matters gathered around Nassy to learn what they had assembled them for. He reminded them of the Indian raids that had been occurring on their plantations, and the ever-present threat they faced from the Maroons. The Jews of Jodensavanne represented a small island in a sea of people fundamentally opposed to their presence. If their settlement were to survive into the future, Jews would need to become the majority percentage the population in Jodensavanne. Taking a deep breath, Nassy explained that since that the process of transplanting groups of families took time they did not have, and money that would eventually run out, the only feasible way to achieve a higher Jewish population was to elevate those Negroes of intermediate status to that of a full Israelite, and count them as a fellow free Jew. Naturally, this idea provoked an outcry among the planters. Haim Nieto angrily accused Nassy of wanting to destroy their way of life, while Joseph Lopes recalled the curse that God afflicted upon the children of Ham.
“If God did not want the Negroes in bondage, he would not have allowed us to come here!” someone shouted, prompting even more pandemonium in the synagogue.
“BE SILENT!” yelled the hakham. One could have heard a cricket rub its legs together in the stillness that followed.
Resuming his poised, aristocratic manner, the hakham went on to endorse Nassy’s proposal, and explain how the process of conversion would work. An endorsement from the hakham significantly assuaged the antipathy towards the idea. As hakham De Castro continued to explain, more and more of the planters began to see the merits of Nassy’s proposal. A vote was called, totaling to a two-thirds majority of Jodensavanne’s notables voting to the proposal. Further deliberation would be needed to assure the planters that their prestige and economic assets would remain in place. Eventually, it was determined that:
- All Negroes who had received circumcision and immersion in a mikveh to render them ritually permissible to serve Jewish masters would be manumitted, and made full Jews in every respect.
- A transitional period of ten years would still bind them to their masters' plantations for the duration. They would be paid a pittance for their labors.
- New slaves purchased after the date of the mass conversion would not be required to be manumitted.
- Any mulatto children fathered by Jewish men would automatically be subject to infant conversion.
- In order that the balance of power not be shifted in favor of the Negerjoden, as the planters pejoratively called them, Nassy and the other professional colonizers would be obligated to purchase more land and bring over a significant number of white Jews. Preferably fellow Sephardim, but they would take what they could get.
There was much grumbling. Hardly anybody was truly happy about the situation, but the magnates of Jodensavanne knew that without a significant increase in population, their happy settlement would be swallowed up by the jungle. Once a consensus was finally reached, the planters departed in decent company. The mohel went home to sharpen his tools, he was going to have a very busy couple of days.