ABSTRACT
The thriving Jewish community into which Baruch Spinoza was born in 1632 existed only by historical accident, having taken precarious root there a scant three decades earlier. The Jews who began arriving in the Netherlands in the late sixteenth century were the descendants of the Sephardim whom Spain had forced either to convert to Christianity or flee for their lives a century before. Although the Jews were not always warmly received in the Netherlands, life there must have seemed good in comparison to what they had left behind. By the 1630s Michael d'Espinosa had become a successful entrepreneur in the Jewish community, occupying leading roles both in civic and in religious capacities. To Michael's practical mind Baruch's speculative temperament may have seemed to be a handicap, particularly since the elder Spinoza would have been conscious of the always precarious position of Jewish communities in Europe.
