ABSTRACT
The business career of Baruch Spinoza came to an abrupt end in the summer of 1656, when the Talmud Torah community pronounced against him the harshest cherem in their history. A Utrecht theologian by the name of Salomon Van Til, writing in 1684, reported that Spinoza had written a kind of Apolgia pro vita sua, under the title "A Justification for Leaving Judaism". The "Justification" has contributed to Spinoza's reputation for anti-Semitism in some circles. Sometime near the beginning of 1660 Spinoza left Amsterdam and went to live at the centre of Collegiant spiritual life, in the town of Rijnsburg. The degree to which Spinoza participated in the religious activities of the Rijnsburg community or personally identified with its Christianity cannot be inferred from what is presently known of his life and writings. Spinoza may first have entered into relations with the Collegiant community of Amsterdam as early as 1654 and may have done so through a variety of doors.
