Why was Spinoza excommunicated?(History)(Bento de Spinoza) From: Midstream | Date: January 1, 2008| Author: Nadler, Steven | COPYRIGHT 2008 Theodor Herzl Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

In 1656, Bento de Spinoza was twenty-three years old. He was the middle son in a prominent family of moderate means in Amsterdam s Sephardic community. As a boy, he had undoubtedly been one of the star pupils in the congregation's Talmud Torah school. He was intellectually gifted, and this could not have gone unremarked by the congregation's rabbis. Perhaps Baruch--as he would have been called in the classroom mad in the synagogue--was, as he made progress through his studies, bein...