South of the border, very south, in fact, in South America, in the tiny nation of Suriname, once a Dutch colony, in the capital city, Paramaribo, there is an ancient synagogue. Sedekwe Shalom was erected in 1736 by Sephardic Jews. It is four years younger than the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue on the Dutch island of Curacao, the oldest continuously used synagogue in the Americas. Sedelwe Shalom, housed in a beautiful, white wooden building, that has been declared a landmark, is now a cyber café.

Suriname has 200 Jews who currently live in the nation and of them, approximately 60 Jews are members of Sedekwe Shalom. Two years ago, the members of the congregation cleared out the building, sending all of the artifacts and furnishings to the Israel Museum. The agreement between the museum and the congregation is that these artifacts will be restored and placed on display for ten years. At the end of the ten year period, all of the material will be returned to Suriname. Now in place of the Ark and Torah, the eight foot tall Menorah and Siddurim, there are computers available for devotees of the internet. After 265 years as a holy congregation, Sedekwe Shalom is now home to those whose faith is placed in cyberspace. Instead of sending prayers to God, people will be routing emails across town and overseas. I am reminded of the quote from Scripture: “How are the mighty fallen!” What an ignominious end to a glorious history.

Reading about Sedekwe Shalom, I contrast this sad tale with the magnificent story being written each day by the members of Temple Israel. Our membership is committed to insuring the continued growth and health of this landmark congregation. And lest you think that I am a philistine who is opposed to cyberspace, one of the most promising endeavors of the congregation is the establishment of a computer room as an educational resource. In a few months, the congregation will possess a state of the art computer center where Jewish learning will take place as an integral part of our religious education program. The Sherri W. Philipson Computer Centre will be “online” in the Spring and our youth, and adults, will be able to use the computers to augment and further their religious education.