Darhe Jesarim

Synagogue in Suriname

Darhe Jesarim
Religion
Affiliation	Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue
Status	Defunct
Location
Location	Suriname
Architecture
Type	Synagogue
Date established	1759
Completed	1759
Demolished	1817

Darhe Jesarim was a Black Jewish synagogue formed in Suriname. It is the earliest known synagogue in the African diaspora. The synagogue was later disbanded and Black and mixed-race Jews were integrated back into Suriname's predominantly white synagogues as second-class members.^[1]

History

By 1759, enslaved and free Afro-Surinamese Jews (sometimes referred to by scholars as "Eurafrican Jews") had formed their own brotherhood and called it Darhe Jesarim ("Path of the Righteous" in Hebrew). The synagogue was located in Sivaplein.^[2] Darhe Jesarim both educated Jews of color and provided a place where Afro-Surinamese Jews could worship without the inequities and distinctions made in Paramaribo's white-run Neveh Shalom and Tzedek ve-Shalom congregations. Jews of African descent were not allowed to say prayers for the dead in white synagogues, nor were white Jews allowed to the prayers on their behalf. Darhe Jesarim did not have its own cemetery. Joseph Cohen Nassy, one of the leaders of the synagogue, died in 1793.^[3]

In 1817, Darhe Jesarim was disbanded and its members were absorbed back into the city's two white-run synagogues as second-class members.^[4]

References

^ "Suriname". Encyclopedia of Judaism. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
^ "Synagogues". Suriname Jewish Community. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
^ Leibman, Laura Arnold (2021). Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multiracial Jewish Family. Oxford England: Oxford University Press. p. 40-41. ISBN 978-0-19-753047-4.
^ Ben-Ur, Aviva (January 31, 2024). Jewish autonomy in a slave society: Suriname in the Atlantic world, 1651-1825. Philadelphia. ISBN 978-0-8122-9704-1. OCLC 1151890624.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)