ABSTRACT
On July 27, 1656, Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated from the Jewish community of Amsterdam. For Spinoza's political and economic ideas were basically opposed to those held by the leaders of the Jewish community. The power of excommunication enabled the Jews of Europe to make significant social progress. The abolition of polygamy in the eleventh century was enforced in Rabbi Gersom's decree by anathema against its violators. The Christian associations of Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel were as well known as Spinoza's friendship with Gentiles were extensive, and they generally elicited the approval of the Jewish community. Spinoza's approach to the history of the Jewish people was that of an anthropologist with a liberal, universalist ethics. Spinoza was tried by a court in which the influence of wealthy commercial magnates was paramount. Spinoza dared to defend the Sadducean standpoint associated with Uriel Acosta and the dissenters among Amsterdam Jewry.
