Overview
Zedek ve-Shalom served the Portuguese Jewish congregation of Paramaribo after growing numbers of Sephardim moved from the plantation settlement of Jodensavanne into the colonial capital. The synagogue supported worship, communal administration, charity, and the preservation of Western Sephardic ritual. Its history unfolded within a slave society in which some Jewish residents owned plantations and enslaved people. Later demographic decline led to institutional consolidation with the city’s Ashkenazi congregation. The synagogue’s furnishings were eventually preserved outside Suriname. Zedek ve-Shalom therefore records migration, urbanization, colonial inequality, ritual continuity, and the challenges of preserving communal heritage.
