The Excommunication of Spinoza: Trouble and Toleration in the "Dutch Jerusalem"

Abstract

The Excommunication of Spinoza: Trouble and Toleration in the JerusalemBaruch de Spinoza, one of the most important philosophers of his time, and certainly the most radical, was excommunicated from Amsterdam's Sefardic synagogue at the age of twenty-four. The immediate reasons for the cherem pronounced against him remain hidden, although there are some good reasons for thinking that he was already propounding the heretical views that are found in his later writings. In this essay, however, I look closely at the political context for Spinoza's excommunication, especially in the relationship between Amsterdam's Jews and Dutch society.In 1656, the synagogue used by Amsterdam's Portuguese Jewish congregation, Talmud Torah, was a large house on the Houtgracht, one of the main thoroughfares of the city's Jewish quarter. On the sixth of Av, 5416 (July 27), the following text was read in Hebrew from the synagogue's ark:The lords of the ma'amad, having long known of the evil opinions and acts of Baruch de Spinoza, they have endeavored by various means and promises, to turn him from his evil ways. But having failed to make him mend his wicked ways, and, on the contrary, daily receiving more and more serious information about the heresies which he practiced and and about his deeds, and having for this numerous trustworthy witnesses who have deposed and born witness to this effect in the presence of the said Espinoza, they became convinced of the truth of this matter; and after all of this has been investigated in the presence of the honorable chachamim, they have decided, with their consent, that the said Espinoza should be expelled and excommunicated from the people of Israel. By decree of the angels and by the command the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse and damn Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of God, Blessed be He, and with the consent of the entire holy congregation, and in front of these holy scrolls with the 613 precepts which are written therein; cursing him with the excommunication with which Joshua banned Jericho and with the curse which Elisha cursed the boys and with all the castigations which are written in the Book of the Law. Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down and cursed be he when he rises up. Cursed be he when he goes out and cursed be he when he comes in. The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the convenant that are written in this book of the law. But you that cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.The document concludes with the warning that one should communicate with him, neither in writing, nor accord him any favor nor stay with him under the same roof nor within four cubits of his vicinity; nor shall he read any treatise composed or written by him. A Portuguese version was later entered into the community's record books.(1)We do not really know what exactly occasioned the excommunication, or cherem, of Baruch (or Bento, as he was known among the Portuguese) de Spinoza. He was twenty-three years old at the time, and had not yet published anything; nor, as far as we know, had he ever composed any treatise. We do not know what the abominable heresies which he practiced and taught were supposed to have been, nor what monstrous deeds he is alleged to have performed. It is most likely that he was, at this time, already saying the kinds of things to which he would give fuller and more systematic expression in his written works within ten years, opinions which no Jewish religious leader could possibly tolerate. In the Ethics, his philosophical masterpiece which he began in the early 1660s, Spinoza basically denies the personal immortality of the soul. …