So, it's been a while since my last blog. I've been very busy trying to research events in the life of Spinoza because I desired to write a bio/fiction book whose theme would center around his philosophy and his excommunication. However, it's been quite discouraging; I simply cannot digest the thousands of words written about him and the history of Judaism. I really don't think I can handle this goal I set for myself. I knew he was born in Amsterdam, and at one time was a brilliant Talmudic student as a boy. He also had a girlfriend who was the daughter of one of his tutors, but she eventually dumped him for a more lucrative future with another guy. I'm sure this tore him up, and that was the moment he decided to follow philosophy. I have done so much reading on the subject that I'm sure I could pass the test to become a rabbi...assuming there is such a test.
During the Inquisition, many Jews from Spain and Portugal emigrated to the Netherlands where for the most part they prospered. They built the first synagogue in Amsterdam in 1598. Thirty-four years later Baruch Spinoza was born, and when he was eight years old, the first glitch in the Jewish community centered around Uriel a Costa, a fiery young man who wrote a treatise attacking the belief in another life. He was urged by the Synagogue to publicly retract his contention since it went against the very essence of Christianity and Jewish doctrine. The elders of the Synagogue did not want to incur the disfavor of the community that had taken them in and permitted them to practice their religion. Costa was required to lie down in the synagogue while members of the congregation walked over his body. After this damning humiliation Uriel wrote a passionate and virulent condemnation of his judges. Then he shot himself.
But this form of punishment for heresy does not even compare with the punishment endured by Spinoza in 1656. For a long while Baruch was a favorite son of the Jewish community; a brilliant scholar in the synagogue. That is, until he studied and learned Latin and was introduced to the works of many philosophers, and was particularly influenced by the work of Descartes
That is, until he was summoned before the elders of the synagogue and asked if it was true that he said to his friends that God is the world of matter, and that the soul is buried with the body and doesn't go anywhere--but there. Well, all this stuff is fascinating enough to read about, but to put it all together in a fictionalized account is another matter. Perhaps tomorrow I will write about the "cherem" or excommunication...which is wicked!
Today we had plans to go to the Festival Flea Market to find some luggage for our trip to Scandinavia. However, I would need my scooter to get around that place and since the elevator was not working, plans had to change. We decided to go to Costco where scooters are available. Then it started to rain in buckets, so instead of Costco we chose to do some "spring cleaning". We started with the messy closet in the hall by our bedroom and we disposed of three full garbage bags of junk that we never use. Prior to this Rhoda could not remember where she put the instructions for the scooter and the electric charger. She claimed to have looked in every nook and cranny and drawer and closet in the house and couldn't find it. But after pulling a lot of brickabrac out of the closet we were working...well there it was!
