Judaism's Great Debates: Timeless Controversies from Abraham to Herzl

8. Spinoza and the Amsterdam Rabbis:The Debate over Boundaries

67 8 Spinoza and the Amsterdam Rabbis Total Freedom? The Debate over Boundaries But having been unable to reform him, but rather, on the contrary, daily receiving more information about the abominable heresies which he practiced . . . Spinoza should be excommunicated and expelled from the people of Israel. Amsterdam Jewish Council I enter gladly on the path that is opened to me. Spinoza The Defiant Son Amsterdam in the 17th century was one of the great cities of the world. An international center of trade and mercantile innovation, its Protestant rulers also created some of the most tolerant havens for free thinkers and religious minorities. Amsterdam was home to artists (such as Rembrandt, who lived in the Jewish quarter), to intellectuals , and not incidentally, to large numbers of Jews who fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. These Jews had previously lived as conversos, outwardly Christian but secretly Jewish, and Amsterdam represented a new opportunity to reclaim their heritage. Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was a son of this Portuguese Jewish community. He received a traditional Sephardic education and was evidently an exceptional student. Already as a teen he began to question traditional Judaism, and express radical new ideas. While Amsterdam was a safe haven for the Jews, the Amsterdam Jewish Council (Ma’amad) that controlled almost all aspects of Jewish life was ever-fearful of disturbing the peace. The Council punished 68 those perceived as troublemakers with fines, and occasionally with banishments that lasted anywhere from a day to a lifetime. For “abominable heresies” Spinoza was excommunicated in 1656 by the community leaders of the Council at the age of twenty-four. He would never again have any contact with his community or seek readmittance . Spinoza lived alone, and although befriended by Christians and urged to convert, he resisted such overtures. He lived humbly and supported himself as a lens grinder, dying of a heart ailment at only forty-five years of age. Yet in his lifetime Spinoza earned the reputation as the most brilliant, and controversial, philosopher of his age. He published two major works: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), and Ethics (1675). On the strength of the first work alone he was offered a university appointment, which he declined. His impassioned embrace of humanism—rigorous reason, utilitarian ethics, and political tolerance—laid the foundation for much of modern philosophy and government. The Jewish community of Amsterdam was run by lay leaders (parnasim ) who actually pronounced the excommunication of Spinoza, but was led by three spiritual heads: Rabbi Saul Levi Morteria (1596–1660), chief rabbi of the community; Rabbi Isaac Aboab (1605–1693), second in command; and Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel (1604–1657), a popular teacher, writer, and pioneering printer. All three may have been Spinoza ’s teachers. Ben Israel, the freest thinking of the group, was out of the country (in England, attempting to argue to Oliver Cromwell for the readmittance of the Jews) at the time of the excommunication. While the Rabbis disagreed among themselves on some religious matters, especially the acceptability of kabalistic (mystical) thinking, Spinoza’s views were judged altogether beyond the pale. Modern Judaism 69 The Great Debate Here is the debate between Spinoza and the Amsterdam rabbis in the form of an imagined conversation. While no record of their exchange survives, this debate incorporates language from the Writ of Excommunication issued by the Ma’amad, reports about the trial, and excerpts from Spinoza’s books. (Italics represent actual quotes from these sources.) Rabbis: We have long known of your evil opinions and deeds, and have tried by various ways and promises to turn you from these evil ways. Spinoza: Tell me of what I am accused. Rabbis: Daily we receive more information about your abominable heresies, concerning God, the soul, and the Law. Spinoza: The freedom to philosophize and to say what I think . . . this I want to vindicate completely. Rabbis: Is it true that you deny that God creates and rules the world, and say that God and nature are the same, and that God exists only in a philosophical sense? Spinoza: By God’s direction I mean the fixed and unchanging order of Nature . . . so it is the same thing whether we say that all things happen according to Nature’s law or that they are regulated by God’s decree and direction. Rabbis: Is it true that you deny that the Torah and the soul are from God? Spinoza: I...