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85. - Herem

from H

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

By
Steven Nadler
Edited by
Karolina Hübner  and
Justin Steinberg
Karolina Hübner
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Justin Steinberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

On July 27, 1656 (the 6th of Av, 5416, on the Jewish calendar), Bento (Baruch) de Spinoza was formally expelled from the Portuguese-Jewish community of Amsterdam by the ma’amad, or governing board, of the Talmud Torah congregation. The writ of ostracism (or ban), called a herem, may originally have been composed in Hebrew and read before the congregation in the synagogue. However, it is extant only in a Portuguese version entered in the Livro dos Acordos da Naçao e Ascamot, the community’s record book. Spinoza was only twenty-three years old when the herem was issued; as far as we know he had not yet written anything.

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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon , pp. 227 - 228
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

Kaplan, Y. (1984). The social functions of the herem in the Portuguese-Jewish community of Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. In Michman, J. (ed.), Dutch Jewish history: Proceedings of the Symposium on the History of the Jews in the Netherlands, 2 vols. (vol. i, pp. 1–55). Tel Aviv University.Google Scholar
Kasher, A., and Biderman, S. (1990). Why was Baruch de Spinoza excommunicated? In Katz, D. S. and Israel, J. (eds.), Sceptics, Millenarians and Jews (pp. 98–141). Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadler, S. (2001). Spinoza’s Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salomon, H. P. (1984). La vraie excommunication de Spinoza. Forum Litterarum, 28, 181–99.Google Scholar
Vaz Dias, A. M., and van der Tak, W. G. (1982). Spinoza: Merchant and autodidact. Studia Rosenthaliana, 16, 105–71.Google Scholar
Vlessing, O. (2002). The excommunication of Baruch Spinoza: The birth of a philosopher. In Israel, J. and Salverda, R. (eds.), Dutch Jewry: Its History and Secular Culture (1500–2000) (pp. 141–72). Brill.Google Scholar

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  • Herem
  • Edited by Karolina Hübner, Cornell University, New York, Justin Steinberg, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon
  • Online publication: 09 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108992459.085
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  • Herem
  • Edited by Karolina Hübner, Cornell University, New York, Justin Steinberg, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon
  • Online publication: 09 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108992459.085
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Herem
  • Edited by Karolina Hübner, Cornell University, New York, Justin Steinberg, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon
  • Online publication: 09 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108992459.085
Available formats
×