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| Source (Hebrew) | Translation (English) |
|---|---|
מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבוֹתֵּנוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב מֹשֶׁה וְאֲהָרֹן וְדָוִד וּשְׁלֹמוֹ הוּא יְבָרֵךְ וְיִשְׁמוֹר וְיִנְצוֹר וְיָעֲזוֹר אֶת כׇּל אַחֵינוּ חוֹלֵי עֲמֵךָ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִרְפָּאהֶם הַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא רְפוּאָה וָאַרוּכָה שְׁלֵמָה וְכֵן יְהִי רַצוֹן וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן׃ |
May the one who blessed our forefathers Avraham, Yitsḥaq, and Yaaqov, Mosheh and Aharon, and David and Shlomo, bless, preserve, guard, and assist all of our fellows among the ill of Beit Yisrael, your people, and cure them, blessed Holy one – (grant them) a complete and overall recovery and so may it be your will and we will say Amen. |
מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֶת כׇּל אַחֵינוּ יֹרְדֶי הָיַם בַּאֹנִייוֹת הֹלִיכֶם בִּידְבַרוֹת וְהֲקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לִימְחוֹז חֶפְצָם לְחַיִים וּלְשָׁלוֹם וְכֵן יְהִי רַצוֹן וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן׃ |
May the one who blessed, (bless) all our brothers gone out to sea in ships traveling in barges. (May) the blessed Holy One help them reach their desired destination[1] Cf. Psalms 107:30 alive and in peace and so may it be your will and we will say Amen. |
אֵל בָּרוּךָ כַּבִּיר [כֹּחַ הָדוּר לְבוּשׁוֹ חַי] לָעוֹלָמִים וּמוֹשֶׁל בָכֹּל יְיָ צְבָאוֹת׃ אָתָּאנוּ לְחַלּוֹת פָּנֶיךָ וּלְהִתְפָּלֶל בִּשְׁלוֹמָהּ שֶׁל מְדִינָה כָאַשֶׁר צִוִיתָנוּ עַל יְדֶי נְבִיאֶךָ׃ דַרְשׁוּ אֶת שְׁלוֹם הָעִיר אַשֶׁר הִּגְלֶתִי אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָה וְהִּתְפָּלְלוֹ אֶת יְיָ בַּעֲדָהּ כִּי בִּשְׁלוֹמָהּ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שָׁלֹם׃ (ירמיהו כט:ז) |
Blessed and powerful EL,[2] Cf. Job 36:5 Glorious in their attire,[3] Cf. Isaiah 63:1 Life of the Worlds, Ruler of all, YHVH Tsevaōt; we have come to beg and pray for the safety of the country, as you directed us through your prophet: “Seek the welfare of the city Where I have sent you into exile, and pray to Hashem on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find yours.” (Jeremiah 29:7) |
הָאֵל הַמֶלֶךְ הַגָּדוֹל הַגּבּוֹר וְהַנוֹרָה הַבּוֹרֶא כֹּל נִבְרָא וְהַעוֹנֶה לְעִתוֹת בַצָרָה׃ הוּא יִּתְמַלֶא רַחֲמִים טוֹבִים עָלֵינוּ. וְירַחֶם וְיֹשִׁיעַ וְיָצִע וְיָגֵן עַל כֹּל הַהוֹלְכִים לְהִלָחֵם עַל אוֹיבֶּנוּ הַשֶׁחוֹרִים הַאַכֶזָרִים וְהַמוֹרְדִים שֶׁהֶם מִפַּחַד אוֹיְב יְרָאִים וָחָלְדִים׃ |
EL, the great, mighty, and revered king, Creator of all and Savior in times of distress be full of beneficent compassion for us and pity, save, succor, and protect all those going to war against our enemies – the cruel and rebellious Sheḥorim[4] A direct Hebrew translation of negros. (Find the following note on its use as part of this phrase as recorded on tombstone epitaphs.) Eli Rosenblatt writes, “Stylistically, the most significant component of this prayer is the two distinct ways that the author refers to Maroons and their allies. In one stanza, the author describes the Maroons as “Kushites” (כושים) and then later as “Blacks” (שחורים). This contrasts with Jews of color in Suriname, who were described in Hebrew/Aramaic as “emancipated” Jews, rather than as a separate ethnic group. This doubling of rabbinic and Atlantic terms demonstrates that people of African descent who were deemed not Jewish were perceived by the author as members of a biblical “nation” and an inferior racial group defined by its color rather than lineage. Both understandings of what it meant to be Black existed simultaneously, and each contributed to the shifting ways that the Surinamese Jewish community defined itself as both apart from and integrated into the world around it.” [5] This entire phrase is a direct translation of “crueys negros alevantados” appearing in epitaphs on the gravestones of Emmanuel Pereyra (d. 1738) and David Rodrigues Monsanto (d. 1739), providing their cause of death. From Aviva Ben-Ur’s Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651–1825 (2020), p. 69, “the Jodensavanne Cemetery preserves the memory of two other Portuguese Jewish men who lost their lives in similar slave uprisings in 1738 and 1739, respectively: Emmanuel Pereyra and David Rodrigues Monsanto. Of the latter nothing other than his epitaph is yet known, but Pereyra was murdered in 1738 when enslaved Africans on his plantation near the Sarwa Creek (due east of Jodensavanne) staged a violent rebellion, killing their master and pillaging his property. The runaways set on a rampage through the savanna, destroying all neighboring estates. Independent of the colonial Dutch authorities, the Jewish Civil Guard sought its own vengeance by attempting to track down, punish, and kill the escaped slaves. Their pursuit was successful; they returned after six weeks with forty-seven captives and six hands severed from the bodies of the vanquished fugitives.” – who are in dread of the fearful enemy and (their) thrusting blades.[6] In Klein’s Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language, the noun חלד may refer to rust, rats, or a particular kind of thrusting blade — perhaps a kind of spear. |
אָנָא, אֵל אֱלֹהֵי הַצְבָאוֹת, הוֹלִכֶים לְשָׁלוֹם וְהַדְרִיכֶם לְחַיִים טוֹבִים כִּרְצוֹן לִבָּם׃ וְהַצִילֶם מִכַּף מֶעַוֶל וְחוֹמֶץ וּמְּחוֹלָאִים רָעִים וּמֵאוֹרָבִּים וּמְשׁוֹלְלִים וּמִשׁוֹמֵי דְרָכִים וּמִכֹּל חַיוֹת רָעוֹת הַמָזִיקוֹת וּמִכֹּל שָׁרֵצִים וְרַמֵשִֹים הַגְּדֹלִים בַיֶעָרוֹת וּבַמִּדְבָרוֹת וּמִכֹּל נֶזֶק וּמִכֹּל הֶפְסֶד בֵּין בַּיוֹם וּבֵּין בָלַיְלָה׃ |
We beg you, EL Elohei ha-Tsevaōt, lead them in peace and guide them to a good life as they desire, and save them from the grasp of the evil-doers and plunderers, from evil diseases and from ambush, from pillagers and from bandits, and from all dangerous wild creatures, and from all insects and reptiles that thrive in the forests and wild places, and from all damage and from all loss, by day and by night, |
כְּדִכְתִּיב לֹא תִירָא מִפַּחָד לַיְלָה מֵחֵץ יָעוּף יוֹמָם׃ מִדֶּבֶר בָּאֹפֶל יַהֲלֹךְ מִקֶטֶב יַשׁוּד צָהֳרָיִם׃ (תהלים צא:ה-ו) לֹא תִירָא מִפַּחָד פִּתְאֹם וּמִשֻׂאַת רְשָׁאִים כִּי תָבֹא׃ (משלי ג:כה) בְלֶכְתְךָ לֹא יְצָר צַעָדֶּךָ וְאִם תָרוּץ לֺא תִכָּשֶׁל׃ (משלי ד:יב) כִּי ה׳ יִהְיֶה בְכִסְלֶךָ וְשָׁמַר רַגְלְךָ מִלָכֵד׃ (משלי ג:כו) לֹא תְאֻנֶה אֵלֶיךָ רָעָה וְנֶגַע לֹא יִקְרַב בְּאָהֳלֶךָ׃ (תהלים צא:י) כִּי תַעֲבֹר בַּמַיִם אִתְּךָ אָנִי וּבַנְּהַרוֹת לֹא יִשְׁטְפוּךָ כִּי תֶּלֶךְ בְּמוֹאֵשׁ תִכַּוֶה וּלְהַבָה לֹא תִּבְעַר בָּךְ׃ (ישעיה נג:ב) כִּי מַּלְאָכָיו יְצַוֶה־לָךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ בְּכׇֹל־דְרָכֶיךָ׃ (תהלים צא:יא) בְּכָל־דְרָכֶיךָ דָעֶהוּ וְהוּא יְיָשֶׁר אוֹרְחוֹתֶיךָ׃ (משלי ג:ו) אַז תֵּלֵךְ לַבֶטָח דַּרְכֶּךָ וְרַגְלְךָ לֹא תִּגוֹף׃ (משלי ג:כג) |
as it is written: “You need not fear the terror by night, or the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in the darkness, or the scourge that ravages at noon. (Psalms 91:5-6) “Be not afraid of sudden terror, neither of the destruction of the wicked, when it comes;” (Proverbs 3:25) “When you go, your step shall not be straightened; and if you run, you shall not stumble.” (Proverbs 4:12) “For Hashem will be your confidence, and will keep thy foot from being caught.” (Proverbs 3:26) “There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your tent.” (Psalms 91:10) “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you; when you walk through the fire, you shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame feed upon you.” (Isaiah 43:2) “For Hashem will appoint their angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” (Psalms 91:11) “In all your ways acknowledge [Hashem], and they will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6) “Then you shall walk secure in your journey, and you shall not injure your feet.” (Proverbs 3:23) |
אָנָא אֶל אָמֵּצֶם בָחֲיִל וְחֲזֵקְּם בִּגְבוּרָה וְאֲזֵרֶם בִּזְרִיזוּת בְּלִי עֵצְלוּת וּבְלִי רִפְיוֹן־יָדָּיִם׃ כְּדִכְתִּיב בָּרוּךְ ה׳ צוּרִי הַמְּלַמֵּד יָדַי לַקְרָב אֵצְבְּעוֹתָי לַמִּלְחָמָה׃ (תהלים קמד:א) וַתַּזְרֶנִי חַיִל לַמִּלְחָמָה תַּכְרִיעַ קַמָי תַּחְתֶנִי׃ (שמואל ב׳ כב:מ, תהלים יח:מ) |
We beg you, EL, bolster their strength and shore up their courage! make them nimble, with no sluggishness or laxity, as it is written: Blessed is Hashem, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for warfare (Psalms 144:1). For you have girded me with strength unto the battle; You have subdued under me those that rose up against me. (II Samuel 22:40, Psalms 18:40). |
וְלָמֵדֶם וְיָשְּׂרֶם בְעֶצָה טוֹבָּה וּבְרוּחַ דַּעַת. וְהְּיֶה לָהֶם לְמַעוֹז וּלְסִתְרָהּ לְהוֹרִיד, וְלִּכְבּוֹשׁ, וּלְהַשְׂמִיד, אֶת כֹּל הַאוֹיְבִּים הַכּוּשִׁיִים הַמוֹרְדִים וְהָאַכְזָרִים הַחוֹשְׂבִּים וְהַּיוֹעָצִים עָלֵינוּ רָעָה תַּחַת כַּפּוֹת רַגְלֵיחֶּם׃ |
Instruct and guide them with sound advice and the spirit of knowledge; be a refuge and a citadel to them, so that they may subjugate, conquer, and destroy all the enemies – the rebellious Kushites, the devious, the cruel, and those who plot against our welfare – under the soles of your feet.[7] Malachi 3:21 |
כְּדִּכְתִּיב בִּקְרֹב עָלַי מְרֵעִים לֶאֶכֹל אֶת בְּשָׂרִי צָרַי וְאֹיְבַי לִי הֵּמָּה כָשְׁלוּ וְנָפָלוּ׃ (תהלים כז:ב) אֶרְדֵּפָה אֹיְבַי וָאַשְׁמִידֶם וְלֹא אָשׁוּב עַד כַּלּוֹתָם, וָאֲכַלֶּם וָאֶמְחָּצֵם וְלֹא יְקוּמוּן וַיִּפְּלוּ תַּחַת רַגְלָי׃ (שמואל ב׳ כב:לח-לט) |
as it is written: “When evil men assail me to devour my flesh it is they, my foes and my enemies, who stumble and fall” (Psalms 27:2). “I pursued my enemies and wiped them out, I did not turn back till I destroyed them. I destroyed them, I struck them down; They rose no more, they lay at my feet” (2 Samuel 22:38–39). |
אָנָא ה׳ הַפֵר עַצַת אֹיבֶּינוּ וּבַטֵל כֹּל מַחְשְׁבוֹתָם׃ כְּדִּכְתִּיב ה׳ הֵפִיר עֲצַת גּוֹיִם הֵנִיא מַחְשְׁבוֹת עַמִּים׃ (תהלים לג:י) תֶחְשַׁכְנָה עֶינֶיהֶם מֵרְּאוֹת וּמָתְנֶיהֶּם תָמִיד הַּמְעַד׃ (תהלים סט:כד) |
We beg you, Hashem, nullify our enemies and thwart their designs, as it is written: “Hashem frustrates the plans of nations, brings to naught the designs of peoples” (Psalms 33:10). “May their eyes be dimmed, and let them be constantly off-balance” (Psalms 69:24). |
כְּדִּכְתִּיב תִּפֹּל עֲלֵיהֶּם אֵימָתָה וָפַחַד בִּגְדֹל זְרוֹעֲךָ יִדְּמוּ כָּאָבֶן׃ (שמות טו:טז) כָּאָבֶן יִדְּמוּ זְרוֹעֲךָ בִּגְדֹל וָפַחַד אֵימָתָה עֲלֵיהֶם תִּפּוֹל׃ |
As it is written: “Terror and dread descend upon them; through the might of Your arm they are still as stone” (Exodus 15:16). They shall be still as a stone, and terror and dread shall fall upon them.[8] The reverse of Exodus 15:16 as found in the qiddush levanah; a prophylactic magical formula. |
יָהּ רִבּוֹן עַלָם וְעַלְמָיָא, יְהֵא רְעַוָא קֹדָמַךְ שֵׁתִּשְׁמוֹר וְתוֹשִיעַ וְתָּצִיל אֶת כׇּל חַיָילֵּינוּ הַיוֹצְאִים לָצֲבָא. לְנַצֶחַ אוֹתָם בְּכׇל מַעֲשֶׂה יְדֵּיהֶּם וּבְכׇל אֲשֶׁר יִפְנוּ יַצְלִיחוּ׃ וּבְכׇל אֲשֶׁר יְלֵכוּ וְיָבוֹאוּ תֵהֶא הַלִיכוֹתָם וְשַׁבְּתָם לְטוֹבָּתֶנוּ וּלְהַנֲאָתֶנוּ וּלְתֹעַלָתֶנוּ׃ וְתוֹצִיא לַמֶרְחָב אוֹתָם. וּתְבִיאֵם אֶל מֵחוֹז חֶפְצָם בְּלִי שׁוּם צַעַר וּבְלִי שׂוּם חֵּסְרוֹן וְהַחָזִירָם בְּנוּי וּבְנוֹעַם בְנָצֶחַ וּבְשַׁלְוָה׃ כְּדִּכְתִּיב ה׳ יִשְׁמָר צֶאתְךָ וּבוֹאֶךָ מְעָתָּה וְעֲד עוֹלָם׃ (תהלים קכא:ח) |
YAH, perpetual master of the world, may it be your will to preserve, save, and rescue all our soldiers who go out to battle to endure in all their endeavors and to succeed in all they encounter and in all of their goings and comings in which they happen to go return them for our benefit and for our pleasure, and for our utility and take them to an expansive place[9] Cf. Psalms 18:20 and II Samuel 22:20 and bring them to their desired destination[10] Cf. Nehemiah 9:23 without any suffering and without any impairment and return them with grace and pleasantness with resilience and serenity as it is written: “Hashem shall guard your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and for ever.” (Psalms 121:8) |
יָשִׂישׂוּ וְיִּשְׂמְחוּ לִקְרַתֶנוּ וְהַעַמִידֶנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם בְהַשְׁקֶט וּבְבִטְחָה וְיִפְתַח לָהֶם שַׁעֲרֵי אוֹרָה שַׁעֲרֵי נֶחָמָה שַׁעֲרֵי יְשׁוּעָה שַׁעֲרֵי דִיצָה שַׁעֲרֵי וַעַד טוֹב שַׁעֲרֵי דֶעָה שַׁעֲרֵי חֶמְלָה שַׁעֲרֵי זָהִירוּת שַׁעֲרֵי קַבָּלָה שַׁעֲרֵי יִשׁוּב שַׁעֲרֵי הַשְׁקֶט שַׁעֲרֵי וַתִיקִין שַׁעֲרֵי חֶדְוָה שַׁעֲרֵי זָכִיוֹת שַׁעֲרֵי נֶעִמוֹת |
May they rejoice and be happy towards us and support us in peace with quiet and security and open for them gates of light gates of comfort gates of deliverance gates of elation gates of scholarship gates of knowledge gates of compassion gates of caution gates of welcome gates of agreement gates of serenity gates of distinguished ones gates of rejoicing gates of merit gates of pleasantness |
אֵל חַי צוּרֵנוּ רַחֶם עָלֵינוּ לְחַם אֶת לוֹחַמֶינוּ וּנְקוֹם אֶת נִקְמַתֶּנוּ וְלֹא יִשָׁמָע בְּכִי וּצְעָקַה שׁוֹד וָשֶׂבֶר בְּבַתֶינוּ בְּאַרְצֶינוּ וּבִּגְבוּלֶינוּ (ירמיהו כט:ז) כְּדִּכְתִּיב וְנָתַתִּי שָׁלוֹם בָּאָרֶץ וּשְׁכַבְתֶּם וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד׃ (ויקרא כו:ו חלק) |
Living EL our rock have pity on us to fight our battles and avenge our vendettas and not cause to be heard cries nor complaint desolation nor destruction in our homes, lands, and borders (Jeremiah 29:7)[11] The continuation of the verse speaks of being abducted as a captive and conceding to this circumstance: “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto Hashem for it; for in the peace thereof shall you have peace.” Was this verse also invoked as a prescriptive polemic, that rebellious slaves should rather have accepted and found peace in their captivity? as it is written: “And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid” (Leviticus 26:6 part) |
וְקַבֵּל תְּפִלָתֵּנוּ וּתְפִלָת כׇּל הַמִתְפָּלְלִים בַעֲדָם כְּקָרְבָנוֹת פָּרִים בְמוֹעַדָם, כִּי אַתָּה שׁוֹמֶעַ תְפִלַָת כׇּל פֶּה וְכֶן יְהִי רָצוֹן וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן |
May our prayer be as agreeable to you – and the prayer of all those who pray for them – as offerings of oxen in bygone days, for you hear the prayer of every mouth and so may it be your will and so we may say Amen. |
This is a prayer composed by David Hizkiahu Baruch Louzada (1750–1825) for Jewish Militiamen in Suriname mustered in the event of Maroon attacks. Contextualized by Eli Rosenblatt in “Prayer for Jewish Militiamen, Suriname, ca. 1805-1806,” chapter 35 of Jews Across the America: A Sourcebook, 1492–Present (2023), he also included a partial translation of the prayer and crucial historical context for understanding its existence. Rosenblatt writes,
One reason many members of Suriname’s Jewish community moved north from Jodensavanne to the main port of Paramaribo was the ongoing danger of Maroon attacks on the plantation town. Maroons were people of African descent who escaped enslavement on plantations and formed autonomous settlements in the interior. Suriname’s plantations were often sites of enslaved resistance from the seventeenth century onward, as Maroons returned to the plantations to attack their former enslavers, gather supplies, and liberate enslaved peoples. While the British had been able to end some of the violence in Jamaica by signing a 1740 treaty with that island’s Maroon community that recognized the Maroon’s freedom and paid them a yearly tribute, the British takeover of Suriname from 1799 to 1816 did not end violence in Suriname. This handwritten Hebrew supplicatory prayer was composed in Jodensavanne by David Hizkiahu Baruch Louzada (1750–1825) during the British takeover.
Written to be recited on the Sabbath, this prayer formed part of a new liturgy composed specifically to ask God for protection from raids and attacks by Maroons. The circumstances of this prayer are distinct because it was composed upon the revolt of three regiments of “coloured” soldiers serving alongside European mercenaries in a military outpost adjacent to the village of Jodensavanne, rather than in response to a threat from known “Boni” Maroons. These soldiers deserted the colonial militia, raided Jodensavanne, murdered a Jewish watchman, and fled eastward, joining existing Maroon settlements along the banks of the Marowijne River. The “Boni” Maroons whom they joined, known today as the Aluku, are one of the six independent Maroon tribes in Suriname and French Guiana. Some Maroon communities had kin ties to Jodensavanne and Jewish plantations: Paanza, for example, the matriarch of the Kasitu Sramaccan clan, was the daughter of Moses Nunez Henriquez, a Portuguese Jew. She had been captured in a Maroon raid on Joseph Castilho’s Kasitu Plantation.[12] Richard Price, Alabi’s World (1990), p. 23. Some Maroon communities acknowledged ties to Jews in Suriname or back to Africa; thus, one eighteenth-century explorer described four Djuka villages as “Jewish Maroons.”[13] Aviva Ben-Ur and Rachel Frankel, Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries of Suriname (2012), p. 70. Yet this prayer suggests that the Jodensavanne community perceived both the rebels and multiracial soldiers as ethnically Other.
This source is among the few early examples we have of original Hebrew liturgy produced in the Americas. It gives us a window into the ways that local conditions shaped the religious sensibilities of early American Jews. It is distinguished by its relation to slavery and revolt and for the fact that it does not ask any earthly government or monarch for protection, as was more common for Hebrew supplications during this period. It demonstrates that formerly enslaved people continued to raid and pose a danger to Suriname’s declining Jewish plantations well into the nineteenth century, after many of the major revolts had ceased.
This is the oldest example of a prayer for the well-being of Jewish soldiers I am currently aware of. (Earlier prayers may exist elsewhere. If you know, please leave a comment or contact us.) For the origin of the Jewish militias operating in Suriname, more can be found in Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries of Suriname (2012) by Aviva Ben-Ur and Rachel Frankel. Here from page 68, on “Jodensavanne as a Paramilitary Outpost”:
Because it existed on the frontier, on the borderland between colonial settlements and autonomous or outlaw non-white populations, Jodensavanne increasingly assumed the function of a paramilitary outpost, an informal garrison that, although not part of the colony’s professional armed forces, functioned similarly. To be sure, any plantation or village situated alongside the frontier, an extensive area that abutted virtually all riverine settlements, was similarly situated. But Jews, or at least so they claimed in a petition to Governor Van Sommelsdijck in 1684, tended to remain in place and defend their settlements against attacks, while other whites fled. In 1689, the Jewish militia (civil guard) helped defend the colony against a French attack, despite the fact that it was Sabbath.207 Defense carried out by private citizens was crucial to the colony’s survival. Suriname’s standing army was traditionally oriented toward fighting off external enemies. But in general, internal threats were dealt with by several regional militias manned by volunteer forces. These included four companies of whites, one company of free “mulattoes,” and another of free “negroes,” all stationed in Paramaribo, plus six to ten rural militias, one assigned to each region. The rural companies included a Jewish Division, in operation since at least 1671.
My transcription here is, for the most part, faithful to the text as I’ve been able to read it, with the exception of some comma-like punctuation. Unusual orthography and vocalization in the original manuscript has been retained rather than corrected. This includes the liberal use of the dagesh, and many applications of the segol where one might expect a tseré.
My English translation here expands up the abridged translation of Eli Rosenblatt, deviating in several places, mainly to keep the translation in line with my parsed phrasing of the prayer, but also elsewhere. Many thanks to Dr. Rosenblatt for bringing this prayer to our attention. An earlier translation of portions of this work were published in Publications of the American Historical Society no. 27 (1920), pp. 223-224.
In arranging what I believe to be the correct order of the text, I have set the text of page 9 before page 1. The two short mi sheberakh prayers on page 10 either preceded the prayer for militiamen or directly followed it. All the page images of the manuscript itself are located, here, where it is referred to under the title, “Prayer at the Time of Revolt of the Negroes, Probably in Surinam,” n.d., JJL.
Many thanks to Ari Adler in the Passages of Rite discussion group on Facebook, for helping to identify and reconstruct the missing text in the top left corner of the first page of the prayer (page 9 in its archived setting). —Aharon Varady
Source(s)
Mi Sheberakh for ḥolim and for sailors (Prayer, page 10 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Beginning of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 9 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Second page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 1 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Third page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 2 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Fourth page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 3 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Fifth page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 4 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Sixth page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 5 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Seventh page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 6 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Eighth page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 7 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History) Ninth page of prayer for Jewish militiamen (Prayer, page 8 of “Prayer at the time of revolt of the Negroes, probably in Surinam” in the Jacques Judah Lyons papers, identifier: P-15, at the Center for Jewish History)
Notes
| 1 | Cf. Psalms 107:30 |
|---|---|
| 2 | Cf. Job 36:5 |
| 3 | Cf. Isaiah 63:1 |
| 4 | A direct Hebrew translation of negros. (Find the following note on its use as part of this phrase as recorded on tombstone epitaphs.) Eli Rosenblatt writes, “Stylistically, the most significant component of this prayer is the two distinct ways that the author refers to Maroons and their allies. In one stanza, the author describes the Maroons as “Kushites” (כושים) and then later as “Blacks” (שחורים). This contrasts with Jews of color in Suriname, who were described in Hebrew/Aramaic as “emancipated” Jews, rather than as a separate ethnic group. This doubling of rabbinic and Atlantic terms demonstrates that people of African descent who were deemed not Jewish were perceived by the author as members of a biblical “nation” and an inferior racial group defined by its color rather than lineage. Both understandings of what it meant to be Black existed simultaneously, and each contributed to the shifting ways that the Surinamese Jewish community defined itself as both apart from and integrated into the world around it.” |
| 5 | This entire phrase is a direct translation of “crueys negros alevantados” appearing in epitaphs on the gravestones of Emmanuel Pereyra (d. 1738) and David Rodrigues Monsanto (d. 1739), providing their cause of death. From Aviva Ben-Ur’s Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651–1825 (2020), p. 69, “the Jodensavanne Cemetery preserves the memory of two other Portuguese Jewish men who lost their lives in similar slave uprisings in 1738 and 1739, respectively: Emmanuel Pereyra and David Rodrigues Monsanto. Of the latter nothing other than his epitaph is yet known, but Pereyra was murdered in 1738 when enslaved Africans on his plantation near the Sarwa Creek (due east of Jodensavanne) staged a violent rebellion, killing their master and pillaging his property. The runaways set on a rampage through the savanna, destroying all neighboring estates. Independent of the colonial Dutch authorities, the Jewish Civil Guard sought its own vengeance by attempting to track down, punish, and kill the escaped slaves. Their pursuit was successful; they returned after six weeks with forty-seven captives and six hands severed from the bodies of the vanquished fugitives.” |
| 6 | In Klein’s Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language, the noun חלד may refer to rust, rats, or a particular kind of thrusting blade — perhaps a kind of spear. |
| 7 | Malachi 3:21 |
| 8 | The reverse of Exodus 15:16 as found in the qiddush levanah; a prophylactic magical formula. |
| 9 | Cf. Psalms 18:20 and II Samuel 22:20 |
| 10 | Cf. Nehemiah 9:23 |
| 11 | The continuation of the verse speaks of being abducted as a captive and conceding to this circumstance: “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto Hashem for it; for in the peace thereof shall you have peace.” Was this verse also invoked as a prescriptive polemic, that rebellious slaves should rather have accepted and found peace in their captivity? |
| 12 | Richard Price, Alabi’s World (1990), p. 23. |
| 13 | Aviva Ben-Ur and Rachel Frankel, Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries of Suriname (2012), p. 70. |
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