(Short update incoming. I have some ideas for where I want to take this timeline, I just don't exactly know how to get there. It's primarily going to focus on the alternate makeup of the Jewish world. Right now I want to develop the Jewish society in Suriname a bit further. Ten year timeskip incoming.)
August 1687/ Elul 5447: ‘It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.’
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A decade had passed since the Great Manumission, the name by which the mass induction of former slaves to the Covenant of Israel had come to be known by. In that time, the Jewish population of Jodensavanne had doubled to approximately fourteen thousand individuals, the vast majority of whom were descendants of those unfortunate bondsmen. The territory in which the Jews of Suriname inhabited had been expended through the efforts of Nassy and other professional colonizers by several hundred hectares. More important than its expansion was the territory’s development, which had progressed rapidly in those ten years. No longer was Jodensavanne a collection of dispersed agricultural settlements, the plantations were connected by roads and one major town, which was officially named Goshen-to reflect the peace bounty that God had granted His people. While agriculture was still the colony’s main economic outpost, several Jewish merchants, shop-owners, and tavern-keepers had set up in the town. New immigrants came from the Caribbean, Italy, England, and other parts of Europe; but the majority of them were from the Dutch Republic. Most of the Gentiles that dwelled in Goshen were also Dutch; and the Dutch language slowly began to ascend the ranks of languages one heard on Goshen’s streets. Portuguese was still the language of the planters and would remain the dominant language for several more decades. Though the majority of immigrants were still members of the
Nação; a sizable population of Ashkenazim-German and Yiddish-speaking Jews- had arrived as well. Deemed a financial burden by the Jewish establishment in the Republic, it was agreed upon by the Jewish elite of Amsterdam and Jodensavanne to send most of them to the colony; where they quickly dominated the non-agricultural sectors along with less prosperous Sephardim; both of whom adopted the Dutch language. Unlike the lofty Portuguese spoken by the planters, Dutch was the language of industry and trade. Those white Jews who dwelled in Goshen became known as
Burghers-free citizens without any land to speak of. Some of the more well-off burghers owned a house slave or two, but the majority did not. They too were bound to the edicts of manumission.
Though the Sephardi and Ashkenazi populations increased; the predominant Jewish population of the colony were the descendants of those freedmen; who compromised approximately three quarters of the Jewish population. They were formally known as
Meshuchrarim-manumitted ones. Colloquially, they were dismissed by the white Jews as Negerjoden. A plurality of them remained on their masters’ plantations as sharecroppers, but a sizeable amount moved to Goshen for work. The
meshuchrarim had own institutions of
shochtim, mohelim, and lay religious leaders. Most uniquely, the
meshuchrarim began to develop their own form of speech. This new dialect, dismissed by the white Jews as
Negertaal, was predominately Portuguese in body with uniquely African grammar. Smatterings of Dutch, English, Hebrew, and African words could be heard throughout. The antipathy directed at them from white Jews forced them into the less developed neighborhoods of Goshen and the less desirable jobs. They also made up the rank-and-file in the colony’s newly formed militia; officered exclusively by white burghers. Clinging to notions of superiority, Sephardim wanted virtually nothing to do with them. The Ashkenazim, on the other hand, were pragmatically amicable to an extent. White and black Jews did not pray, learn, marry, or even dine together; but an Ashkenazi burgher was more likely to employ or do business with a
meshuchrar than a Sephardi burgher. Poverty makes for strange bedfellows, even among the Jews.
As is the case in any Jewish environment, the center of communal life was the synagogue. In addition to a place to pray, the synagogues also served as places for men to discuss business and socialize. The synagogues also served as houses of study for adults and children alike. Jodensavanne was unique in that it had four synagogues for its different Jewish populations, which was practically unheard of in the Americas. There was also one Calvinist Protestant church for the Dutchmen that lived in Goshen.
The predominant synagogue of Goshen was also its oldest.
Beracha Ve’Shalom, colloquially known as the
Esnoga, was where the planters went to pray on special occasions; most of whom had
minyanim on their plantations for daily use. The concentrated wealth of its congregants essentially made the synagogue the legislative body for the whole of Jodensavanne, especially due to it housing the only beit din-ritual court- in the colony. The burghers had two smaller houses of worship:
Neveh Shalom for the Ashkenazim and
Tzedek Ve’Shalom for the Sephardim. It goes without saying that the
meshuchrarim had their own synagogue as well, an unassuming building that went by the name of
Darhe Jessarim. The congregants of
Darhe Jessarim practiced strictly halachic Judaism, in the Spanish and Portuguese rite of their former masters, but their pronunciation and melodies had a uniquely Judeo-African flair to it. This new development in Judaic ritual disgusted many Sephardim, who saw it as a perversion of their unique legacy. Several planters even wanted to dis-establish the community, but this measure was quickly shot down by anyone with a remote eye for observation. The Ashkenazim largely looked upon them with indifference, but some burghers admired them for their piety. The average
meshuchrar had less knowledge of the Holy Torah than the average burgher or planter; but what they lacked for in education was made up in ecstatic devotion. Though planter, burgher, and
meshruchar all practiced the same faith, one could say that the only thing they had in common was the sand on the floor of their synagogues.