August 29 1643 – 14 Elul 5403
This was long thought to be the date appearing on the oldest existing ketuba (marriage contract) written in the Western Hemisphere, initialed in Surinam at the wedding of Yehudit to Hakham Yitzhak Meatob. Today the ketuba is presumed to have been misdated by scholars, as a better preserved copy in Holland is dated 5743 (1713). The first Sephardic community in Surinam is said to have been founded in 1661. The interior of Suriname’s Tzedek Ve-shalom synagogue, complete with its white sand floor, is today preserved in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
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