Nederlands-Portugees Israëlitische Gemeente in Suriname

Country

SR

Name of institution (English)

National Archives of Suriname

Name of institution (official language of the state)

Nationaal Archief Suriname

Language of name of institution

dut

Contact information: postal address

Jagernath Lachmonstraat 174, Paramaribo

Contact information: phone number

00597 430035

Contact information: web address

https://nationaalarchief.sr/

Contact information: email

info@nationaalarchief.sr

Reference number

SR-NA-1.05.11.18

Type of reference number

Archival reference number

Title (English)

Dutch-Portuguese Jewish Community in Suriname

Title (official language of the state)

Nederlands-Portugees Israëlitische Gemeente in Suriname

Language of title

dut

Creator / accumulator

Nederlands Portugees-Israëlitische Gemeente te Suriname

Date(s)

1678/1909

Language(s)

dut

por

Extent

546 storage units

Type of material

Textual Material

Physical condition

Poor

Scope and content

The Nederlands-Portugees Israëlitische Gemeente in Suriname fonds comprises documentation produced by the Dutch-Portuguese Jewish Community in Suriname. The foundation of the Congregation Bechara ve Shalom (Blessing and Peace) dates back to about 1662, and its organisation is reflected in the different series that compose this fonds. The Mahamad (the governance body) established the congregation's "ascamot" (by-laws) and was responsible for the community's current management and the proper enforcement of its regulations. The Mahamad en Junta series includes minute books of the Mahamad and Junta meetings since the mid-18th century; appendices to these minutes, including documents from 1678 to 1839; appeals and pleadings with the respective decisions (1708-1829); correspondence (1780-92); privileges granted to the Portuguese Jewish community; "ascamot"; records on the service ritual; inventories of the synagogue archives and papers belonging to ministers and officers; lists of elections; land records and contracts; financial records; and court cases and sentences. This series also includes the "ascamot" of the congregation of Curaçao enacted in 1755 (149).
The treasurer, called Gabay until 1785, then "trezorier" or "recebedor-General", kept cash books, annual accounts, and ledgers, which formed the second series of this fonds.
The Eerste Voorzanger (Hazan) van de Gemeente B.V.S. series comprises documentation from the first Hazan (cantor) of the congregation, including registers of ketubot (1702-1853), births (1662-1866) and burials (1777-1865).
A fourth series is composed of records belonging to the Parnassim (governors) of the synagogue of Paramaribo, namely incoming extract resolutions from the Mahamad and Junta (1786-1807) and ledgers (1821-25).
The following series includes records from the Parnassim and Gabay of the Ets Haim brotherhood on the Joden Savanna, including regulations, reports of inspections, lists of members and gifts, and ledgers.
Records of other brotherhoods are included in the Gedeponeerde Stukken series, which comprises miscellaneous records of diverse organisations of the community, namely the Liviat Hen (burial society), the Ahaba Usdaka (a relief society on Savanna), the Eben Yecara & Guemiluth Hasadim (burial society in Paramaribo), the Hozer Holim (brotherhood to provide assistance to poor sick people), and others. Their documentation includes meeting minutes, regulations, accounts, ledgers, and judicial records.
Finally, the Supplement series comprises 19th- and 20th-century documents, most of them of an accounting nature.
Throughout the fonds, there are miscellaneous records regarding some members of the community in particular. Some examples are the following:
145: Documents concerning the estate of Jacob Uziel Cardozo. 1st quarter of the 18th century.
147 and 148: Documents concerning the disputes of regents against Isaac Carilho. 1740-47.
150: Documents concerning the dispute about the accountability of the adjuvant-Gabay Isaac Nassy. 1764.
151 and 152: List of books belonging to haham Meyr aCohen (1766, 1776).
153: Documents concerning the sale of half of the coffee plantation Nieuwe Hoop on the Suriname River by Joseph Haim Pinto to Abraham Garcia. 1770.
156: Incoming letters from the correspondent Abraham Pizza in Amsterdam. 1786-94.
157: Documents concerning the dispute of Samuel Hajanja de Meza, fourth Parnas, against Jos. Arrias, first Parnas. 1791.
158: Documents concerning the verdict against Abraham de Samuel Robles de Medina for improprieties committed in the synagogue. 1794-1800.
167-169: Documents concerning the estate of David Baruch Louzada and the management of his estate in Suriname. 1695-1783.
170-171: Documents concerning the management of the estate of Isaac Messiah. 1779-80.
172: Documents concerning the estate of Abraham Siprut de Gabay. 1780-87.
336: Documents concerning the judicial collection by the Gabay of a claim against Isaac Gradiz da Fonseca for cash on deposit. 1783-84.
354: Documents concerning the purchase of the plantation Nieuwe Rust on the Suriname River, belonging to the late Jacob Henriquez 1776-80; with retroactive documentation from 1754.
403: Cash accounts of the estates of David Baruch Louzada, Isaac Messiah, and Moses de Britto. 1786-1821.
492: Documents concerning the estate of Samuel Abenacar. 1765-66.

Archival history

The administration of the congregation's archives, which were kept in the Bechara ve Shalom synagogue, was entrusted to the Gabay, who, at the end of his service year, was to hand over the books and papers under inventory to his successor.
In 1772, following a complaint about the disorganisation of the congregation's archives, the Mahamad decided to instruct D.B. Louzada, the second Hazzan, to examine and inventory the papers. Only in 1788 did Louzada complete this work. However, in the late 1810s, the archives were again found to be in disorder. Following a resolution of the Mahamad on September 7, 1819, Louzada was set to work again.
According to an inventory made in 1831, the congregation's archives were no longer kept in Joden Savanna but in Paramaribo. Only the documents concerning the civil administration of justice were left in the Bechara ve Shalom synagogue. An investigation instituted in Savanna in September 1859 disclosed that the papers remaining there had been completely neglected. Thus, a government resolution of April 19, 1861, stipulated that the congregation records would be placed in the Surinaamse Koloniale Bibliotheek (Surinam Colonial Library) on the express condition that they would remain the property of the government. The papers were transferred to the Colonial Library in 1861.
For the care and preservation of the congregation's archives, P.A. Hilfman, a teacher at the Dutch Portuguese-Jewish Congregation in Suriname, undertook an inventory of part of the collection, which was published in the Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society in 1907. Thanks to his efforts, the archives up to about 1864 were transferred to the Algemeen Rijksarchief in 1916.
In October 2009, Surinam and the Netherlands reached an agreement on the transfer of the Surinam archives, including the Dutch-Portuguese Jewish congregation fonds, to the National Archives of Surinam.

(source: R. Bijlsma 2021. "Inventaris van het digitaal duplicaat van het archief)

Administrative / Biographical history

The foundation of the Portuguese Jewish community in Surinam, according to the congregation archives, probably took place in the year 5422 (1661-62). Some years later, in 1665, the Jews in Suriname obtained important privileges from the English colonial government, which included the permission to exercise their religion freely and to build "places of worship and schools" on "ten acres of land at Thorarica". The congregation took the name of Bechara ve Shalom (B.V.S., Blessing and Peace). Its administration was entrusted to the Mahamad, which, until 1785, was composed of four parnassim or regents and one "gabay" (treasurer). The former members of the Mahamad bore the title of "adjunto". Together with the Mahamad, the "adjuntos" formed the Junta or General Assembly. Apart from serving as a governing body, the Mahamad also functioned as a court for small civil cases. By the English privilege of 1665, the Jewish nation had been granted its own jurisdiction for matters up to the amount of 10,000 pounds.
The oldest "ascamot" (by-laws) of the congregation found in the archives date from 1740, followed by new regulations in 1748 and 1754.
The foundation of a prayer house at Paramaribo by some Ashkenazi Jews and the decision made by Mahamad and "adjuntos" in 1724 to separate the Ashkenazi nation gave rise to disputes. The conflict ended in 1735, with the delivery of the Neve Shalom synagogue at Paramaribo to the newly established Ashkenazi congregation. Then, the Portuguese Jews built a new prayer house at Paramaribo, which was named Sedek ve Shalom (Justice and Peace). Emphatically, the "ascamot" continued to mention that the Joden Savanna synagogue was the only synagogue of the Portuguese Jews, while the building at Paramaribo would be no more than a "caza de oração" (a prayer house).
The regulations established in 1814 by the "Organiek Besluit voor het Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden" (organic decree for the Jewish congregations in the Kingdom of the Netherlands) were declared applicable to the congregations in the Dutch West Indies by royal decree of April 2, 1825. Following its announcement in the colony of Surinam by the governor's publication of June 20, 1825, the jurisdiction of the Mahamad in minor civil cases came to an end. Following the royal decree of 1825 and the organic decree of 1814, the name for the Portuguese Jewish congregation in Surinam was established as "Nederlandse Portugees-Israëlitische Hoofdsynagoge" (Dutch Portuguese-Israelite Main Synagogue).

(source: R. Bijlsma 2021. "Inventaris van het digitaal duplicaat van het archief van de Nederlandse Portugees-Israëlitische Gemeente in Suriname, 1678-1909")(1.05.11.18)