THE RELATION OF THE LIFE AND PHILOSOPHY OF SPINOZA TO JUDAISM
By David Leffyoivitz, Dallas.
The title of this paper delimits the treatment very clearly. It will try to determine how far we Jews can claim that “this greatest modern philosopher” based his search for truth upon his Jewish experiences and his Jewish studies and Jewish forbears. It is in brief an effort to place Baruch Spinoza, where he surely belongs and where we could be proud to see him, near the head of the long line of notable Jewish thinkers of the ages.
Let us view the important incidents of his life and note how close the elements thereof are to Judaism. Baruch Spinoza was born into a family of Maranos, who had made their way from Portugal early in the seventeenth century and had settled in the more hospitable Netherlands in the city of Amsterdam. Both the grandfather, Abraham Spinoza, and the father, Michael Spinoza, held synagogual offices. So Baruch was brought up and taught as a Jewish child usually is. He
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