Chapter Ten: And each shall sit under his vine and fig tree, and none shall make him afraid. 1762-1776/5522-5536
(An artists depiction of a plantation several miles outside of Goshen, 1776.)
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Fourteen years passed since the motley collection of Jewish plantations and villages in northern Suriname was granted official status as a separate dominion of the United Netherlands. The colony’s banner still fluttered proudly, as did the people it represented. The Holy Community of the Israelite Nation in Suriname had blossomed since the community gained official status; with the population steadily climbing each year. In addition to the ballooning growth of native-born Judeo-Africans, there was a constant stream of newcomers from all over the Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Each Jew who arrived up the Suriname River had their own reasons for leaving their homes. Once, an assortment of families came from some miniscule German princedom to escape a pogrom. On that same ship, an adulterous tailor from Tunis stowed himself in the cargo hold. When the inspectors found the man, he told them he was fleeing the murderous wrath of his brother-in-law. Whether they came for work, for land, or for their lives, any Jew could find refuge in the verdant land of Suriname.
Refuge.
Refuge was a word that was on people’s lips nowadays; most notably those of the Mahmad and its Parnass, Issac Cardozo. Under Cardozo’s leadership, the Mahmad was in the long process of organizing and consolidating the once-informal colony. Now that they were an official territory and not just an assortment of people, they needed all the trappings of an official territory. They had a flag, which waved outside their meeting hall. The famous Psalm 126 served as their anthem. They were in the process of organizing a government. The last thing the Holy Community needed was an official name for their territory.
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On a temperate spring night in 1764, A council of learned men, planters, and other influential men were convened to finally decide their colony’s official name. Despite making up most of the colony’s population, only one Mechrushar was present at the assembly. Several less-observant burghers suggested something along the lines of “New Judea” or “New Israel”. This idea was almost immediately shot down by the entire assembly, with more than a few calls for their explusion. As much as the Holy Community loved this land, it was not the land that they and their forefathers prayed to return to thrice daily. Suriname was not the land where God’s Holy Temple once stood, and where His priests gave up their burnt offerings. To call their land “New Israel” would mean that they had no intentions to return to the old Israel, and that was certainly not the case for any Jew that knew he was a Jew.
There were suggestions of varying quality throughout the night, most of which went nowhere. Just before they were to adjourn for the night, the voice of an elderly man made its way through the assembly.
“Why not
Machseh?” it asked.
The voice belonged to Haim Lopes, a respected elder of the planter community.
Dom Lopez-as he was respectfully known-was a member of the first generation of native-born Surinamese Jews. Dom Lopez’s generation was the first to hold their covered heads high and proclaim their allegiance to the Law of Moses. When Dom Lopez wished to make himself heard, even the grandest planters ceased to speak.
The assembly fell silent. The word literally meant “refuge” in Hebrew, an apt decision to the beautiful land they called home. The righteous survivors of the Inquisition carved a refuge out of the jungle with the aid of their Maroon comrades. Their land was a refuge in most respects, so the suggestion resonated with the audience. Parnass Cardozo suggested taking a vote after an hour of deliberation, to which the company assented. Ayes resounded from around three quarters of the company, with the rest either voting nay or abstaining. After the votes were tallied, Parnass Cardozo proclaimed to the Mahmad that the motion had passed. The assembly retired shortly after, but Issac stayed up late into the night to draft the following proclamation.
"Let it be Known that with the Benediction of the Holy One (Blessed be He)-and the Consent of the Government and Stadtholder of the United Netherlands- the territory occupied by the Holy Community of the Israelite Nation in Suriname shall henceforth be known as the Colony of Machseh. This Notice shall be effective from the Twenty Seventh day of July, 1776/ Eleventh of Av, 5536."
Issac Cardozo drafted multiple copies of the same notice. The following morning, he dispatched a mounted courier to take the notice to the Governor in Paramaribo; along with another copy to be sent to the Stadtholder’s palace in the mother country. Another runner was dispatched to Maroon territory to inform the Granman of the change. The next step was for Isaac to order the Mahmad’s various clerks and secretaries to draft as many notices as possible to be distributed throughout the colony. Most of the pamphlets were written in Dutch, but there several drafted in Portuguese, as well as a smattering of painstakingly penned Hebrew translations. A plurality of Mechrusharim were still illiterate, therefore heralds were dispatched to their neighborhoods and villages to spread the news. For the next several days, celebrations and thanksgiving services were held throughout the colony. The Jews of Machseh had much to celebrate, but the fervor in the streets would take on radically more varied tones in the upcoming months. Incidents across the sea would spark joy, sorrow, and rage in equal measures in the Jews of Machseh.
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(The Second Continental Congress, 1775.)
Everybody and their mother had an opinion as to why the Englishmen in America took up arms. Some said it was the price of tea, while others said it was because their King prevented them from moving westward. Whatever the reason, the thirteen British colonies on the east coast of America broke away from their mother country. They called themselves “The United States of America”, and they declared that all men were created equal. Of course, the natural question on everyone’s mind was how this new country’s Jewish citizens would fare without old King George. Some traditionalist hakhamim postulated that it was a violation of
dina d'malkhuta dina* to rebel against the King, while their younger talmidim argued that the fact that Jews lacked the franchise in Great Britain was a perfectly just cause to fight.
Fears about antisemitism in the nascent country were quickly mitigated when Parnass Cardozo received a letter from his cousin, who happened to be Hakham Gershom Mendes Sexias. Hakham Sexias' domain was the Truro synagogue in Newport, now part of the state of Rhode Island. The cousin detailed a reply to a correspondence between that American outpost of the Nação and their newly inaugurated president George Washington. When asked if he would protect the liberties of American Israelites as he did for the Christian population, the president replied that the United States would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”.* While the Mahmad was grateful for the tolerant nature of the new state, there was a degree of class solidarity between the two groups. After all, both the Mahmad and the Framers were planters and men of property. Their wealth came in the form of land, its fruits, and the chattel that worked it. Both the Jews in Suriname and the Englishmen in America had fought to maintain their way of life. For a time, the Mahmad believed that was enough to forge a bond between them both.
The Mahmad immediately drafted letters of thanks and congratulations to the President and Congress, along with similar notices to the Jewish communities. When it became known that a Polish
tedesco by the name of Haym Solomon helped the fund the rebel fighters, a street was named in his honor. The Mahmad was also aware that many Americans remained loyal to the British crown, and that many of them were fleeing to King George’s dominions. In their letters to American Jewish communities, the notables of Machseh made it known that they would accept any Jewish loyalists who no longer had a place in America. Most Jewish loyalists went to Canada or Bermuda, but there were several families from Charleston who found their way to Machseh. Many a l’chaim was made to
Meneer Haym and
Meneer Washington in many a rich man’s salon, and it was not uncommon to see crude facsimiles of the American flag hanging from the windows of a tavern or private house.
(
Meneers Solomon and Washington, respectively.)
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While the enthusiasm for America was palpable among the planters and burghers alike, it was far less prominent among the Mechrushar majority. Yes, they were pleased that the Jews of America would be tolerated; but how could all men be created equal if their colored brothers were still in bondage? It was not uncommon for Mechrusharim of this era to display pro-British sentiments; though one cannot determine if these were displays of true Anglophilia and how much was merely to defy the pro-American white establishment. Mechrushar families flew hand-painted Union Flags from their homes and stores as the burghers did with the Old Glory. For a time, it was not uncommon to see interracial brawls where a white man beat his black coreligionist with an American flag and vice versa with the British banner.
The most notable incident of violence pertaining to the American war broke out at the site of Darhe Jessarim, Goshen’s main Mechrushar synagogue. To this day, it remains a custom for many Jews to take an evening constitutional upon the conclusion of the Sabbath. Similarly, Mechrusharim have the custom of socializing in the synagogue for several hours after Habdalah; mainly for drinking and the playing of musical instruments. In his revelry, an intoxicated Mechrushar man placed a Union Flag in the window of the synagogue while slurring his way through “God Save the King”. A country-born Ashkenazi man saw this affront while strolling past the synagogue and quickly came enraged, running to the nearby tavern to tell his equally inebriated friends. Within the hour, a mob of irate burghers had surrounded the synagogue. The assembly carried torches, muskets, various pikes and clubs, and both American and Machsenese flags. They fired their guns in the air and dared the
“Torynegers” to come out and fight like men. Somebody-nobody knows who it exactly was-broke a window and threw a torch into Darhe Jessarim.
Through the benevolence of God, most of the congregants made it out safely through the back of the synagogue. Unfortunately, ten Mechrusharim-mainly women and children-perished in the flames. Only three men were arrested and tried for the massacre, a recent immigrant from Poland and two Sepharadi burghers. In their defense, they claimed that the sight of the British flag was an affront to their sensibilities; for that flag represented a country which denied Jews full equality. For this statement, they were only lashed and not hanged. The life of ten human beings who shared the same god and tribe-but not the same hue-was apparently only worth twenty lashes a man. However dismal this state of affairs may be, it would not last for much longer. Within the next two decades, a French sugar island across the sea would throw off its shackles. In doing so, they would make the planters and burghers, Jews and Christians alike, tremble.
(An artists depiction of the burning of Darhe Jessarim, 1776.)
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*Dina malkhuta dina: Literally meaning "the law of the land is law", it's a Jewish legal principle which states that unless the law prohibits Jewish practice, the law of the host country must be obeyed.
**George Washington's letter to the Jewish community of Newport Rhode Island.
Very glad to get back to this. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm very proud of myself for getting to the tenth chapter. This is probably the longest I've stuck to a work of fiction. I have plans for the next chapter, but this might be the last one for a forseeable bit. I'm going to Greece in a few weeks, and after that I start student teaching. But like I said, it ain't dead till I say its dead. For any Jewish folks reading this, I wish us an easy and meaningful fast on Tisha B'Ab.
Morir Habemos, y los Sabemos.
It's different but equally interesting to Jon's older timeline about a mostly Sephardic Jewish colony on Sao Tomé.