Reclaiming Jodensavanna.

• Author: Luxner, Larry
• Position: Suriname's ancient Jewish community

Deep in Suriname's sparsely populated wilderness, where seemingly endless grasslands meet the northern fringes of the Amazon rain forest, lies Jodensavanna, or Jews' Savanna. This long-abandoned complex, containing the ruins of an ancient synagogue and two distinct burial grounds, stands in silent tribute to America's earliest Jewish pioneers. Fewer than 250 Jews live in Suriname today, yet their forefathers are buried here, in South America's oldest Jewish cemetery.

"It's impossible to understand Surinamese culture and history without the Jewish community. Although the Jews are small in number today because of emigration to Holland, they were once very influential," says Father Esteban Kross, a prominent Catholic priest in the country's capital, Paramaribo.

"It's crazy," adds Rend Fernandes, president of Paramaribo's Sephardic Jewish congregation. "We're officially known as the Nederlands-Portuguese-Israelitisch Community. We're an independent country since 1975, and still we carry such a name."

Like most of Suriname's Jews, Fernandes is descended from Portuguese-speaking Jews who came to the country some three centuries ago in search of economic opportunity and to avoid religious persecution. Historians believe Sephardic Jews - those who trace their origins to the Iberian Peninsula - first settled in the area as early as 1639, either directly from Holland or from Pernambuco, in Brazil, which at that time was under Dutch rule. The community archives contain a ketubah or marriage contract, indicating that a Jewish wedding was celebrated in Suriname in 1643.

A second wave of Jewish settlers arrived from England in 1652, under the auspices of Lord Francis Willoughby, the colonial governor of Barbados. Soon after their arrival, they established a thriving community on the banks of Cassipora Creek near the Suriname River, which runs close by the site of the present-day ruins.

Then came the third, and most important, of early Jewish refugees, led by Joseph Nunez de Fonseca, also known as David Nassi. These Jews had fled first to northeastern Brazil to escape the Inquisition in Europe, but were forced out in 1654 when Portugal conquered Brazil. They trekked west to Cayenne, a Dutch outpost on the Atlantic Ocean, but once again were expelled, this time by the French, who captured Cayenne from the Dutch in 1664. Part of this group finally settled in Suriname around 1666.

The English crown, which at that time ruled Suriname, granted this fledgling...