Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us ModernityPart of the Jewish Encounter series In 1656, Amsterdam’s Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty–three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza’s progeny. In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition’ s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza’s philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe’ s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism. Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero—a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. |
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Page 18
... Talmud Torah , July 27 , 1656 Without intelligence there is not rational life , and things are only good in so far as they aid man in his enjoyment of the intellectual life which is defined by intelligence . Contrariwise , whatsoever ...
... Talmud Torah , July 27 , 1656 Without intelligence there is not rational life , and things are only good in so far as they aid man in his enjoyment of the intellectual life which is defined by intelligence . Contrariwise , whatsoever ...
Page 20
... of Portuguese refugees had organized almost as soon as they got to their new shores . It was , by all accounts , an excellent school . Rabbis from other parts of Europe who visited the Talmud Torah of Amster- Betraying Spinoza.
... of Portuguese refugees had organized almost as soon as they got to their new shores . It was , by all accounts , an excellent school . Rabbis from other parts of Europe who visited the Talmud Torah of Amster- Betraying Spinoza.
Page 21
... Talmud Torah of Amster- dam marveled at the level of learning attained there . Baruch had studied under worthy rabbis , including the chief rabbi of Amsterdam , Rabbi Morteira , and he had distinguished himself . He was a brilliant ...
... Talmud Torah of Amster- dam marveled at the level of learning attained there . Baruch had studied under worthy rabbis , including the chief rabbi of Amsterdam , Rabbi Morteira , and he had distinguished himself . He was a brilliant ...
Page 22
... Talmudic tomes from morning until night . Mrs. Schoenfeld's discussion of Baruch Spinoza suggested that she had seen his type before , and so , she feared , had we . A boy who thinks he knows better than his rabbis and the Torah , who ...
... Talmudic tomes from morning until night . Mrs. Schoenfeld's discussion of Baruch Spinoza suggested that she had seen his type before , and so , she feared , had we . A boy who thinks he knows better than his rabbis and the Torah , who ...
Page 30
... Talmud Torah , where Baruch had studied . Because of his brilliance , people were interested in him , in what he thought . But soon rumors of Spinoza's strange ideas began to emerge , so that his community began to be afraid for him and ...
... Talmud Torah , where Baruch had studied . Because of his brilliance , people were interested in him , in what he thought . But soon rumors of Spinoza's strange ideas began to emerge , so that his community began to be afraid for him and ...
Contents
3 | |
17 | |
The Project of Escape | 67 |
Identity Crisis | 124 |
Epilogue | 258 |
Chronology | 265 |
Notes | 273 |
Acknowledgments | 285 |
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Aboab argue Baruch Spinoza believe with perfect Benedictus Benedictus Spinoza born Catholic century chief rabbi Christian Church claim conceived continued conversos course death Descartes Deus sive natura divine Dutch Ein Sof emotions essence eternal Ethics excommunication existence experience explain fact father final causes finite friends girls Ha-Shem halakha Hebrew heretic holy Ibid ideas infinite system Inquisition Israel Jan de Witt Jewish Jewish community Jewish identity Jews of Amsterdam Judaism kabbalah kabbalistic kherem knowledge laws Leibniz lives Lurianic Maimonides Marranos means Messiah metaphysics mind Moses Moslem mystical Nachmanides nature noza one's oneself perfect faith personal identity philosopher pleasure Portugal Portuguese proofs publish question Rabbi Morteira rational reality reason religion religious Rijnsburg Sabbatai Zevi salvation Schoenfeld scholar sense Sephardic soul Spain Spanish suffering synagogue Talmud teacher thing thinker thought tion Torah true truth understand Uriel da Costa Voorburg words write yeshiva young