Communities > Prayers in Suriname
DE VERIS, YEHUDAH BEN MIKHAEL.
Tefilot u-baḳashot le-vaḳesh raḥamim meha-El yitbarakh ve-lidrosh mimeno teshuʻa ve-hatslaḥah ʻal ha-medinah.
Manuscript in Hebrew on paper.
Suriname, 1810.
MS X893 J6
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The Jewish community of Suriname is probably the oldest in the Western hemisphere. According to oral tradition, its first Jews arrived in the 1630s, and Jewish settlements are documented in maps from the 1660s. From its very inception, the colonizers of Suriname (first the British, and then the Dutch) were very magnanimous toward the Suriname Jews, granting them privileges to practice their religion in peace.
As a Dutch colony, Suriname was affected by the Napoleonic upheavals in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. It was during this time, when Suriname was under temporary occupation by the British, that this prayer was written. The poignant text, written in both Hebrew and Dutch, begs for forgiveness, success, and redemption, as well as benedictions for the king and the government leaders.