The Relation Between Spinoza's Monism and Kabbalistic Monotheism
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Portland State University PDXScholar University Honors Theses University Honors College 5-22-2020 The Relation Between Spinoza's Monism and Kabbalistic Monotheism Naomi H. Fredgant Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses Part of the Jewish Studies Commons, and the Philosophy Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Fredgant, Naomi H., "The Relation Between Spinoza's Monism and Kabbalistic Monotheism" (2020). University Honors Theses. Paper 846. https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.866 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. The Relation Between Spinoza’s Monism and Kabbalistic Monotheism By Naomi Fredgant An undergraduate honors thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science University Honors And Philosophy Thesis Advisor Angela Coventry Ph.D. Portland State University 2020 1 Introduction Early modern philosopher Benedict de Spinoza was born in 1632 to a Portuguese-Jewish merchant family in Amsterdam. Spinoza was raised in a strict Jewish community until he was 23, which was when he was excommunicated, described as cherem in Hebrew. Almost a decade later, he wrote one of his most famous works, Ethics. He discusses many things in this book, but the focus here is on his theory of G-d1, or, monism. This is an exploration into Spinoza’s theory through the lens of the theory of G-d Spinoza grew up learning: Kabbalistic monotheism. I examine where his ideas were rooted for the first twenty-three years of his life to better understand how they differed later in his life. This paper has 5 sections: 1) An Introduction to the context Spinoza was living in, 2) A description of Spinoza’s monism and monistic pantheism, 3) A description of Kabbalistic monotheism, 4) A comparison of the two, and 5) A conclusion describing how my understanding of his theory has shifted now that I understand where he came from. Spinoza’s Context To be raised in a Jewish community in Amsterdam in the 17th century was to experience the revitalisation of lost traditions. During the Spanish Inquisition, Jewish people in the Iberian Peninsula were not allowed to practice their religion; if they did, it was in secret, and without instruction. Many of the time-honored traditions were lost, and once people were “free” to practice their religion, they had to relearn their own religious practices, trying to weed out what was theirs from the influences of Iberian Catholicism. An example of this is the way they 1 In the Jewish tradition, anytime the name of G-d is written someplace that could be thrown away, it is written with a dash instead of an “o”. This is because G-d deserves the respect of not being discarded in any sense of the word. I am Jewish, so I will be abiding by this rule. Moss, A. (2004, August 30). Why Don't You Spell Out G-d's Name? 2 celebrated Purim. Purim is, in a very basic sense, a celebration of the story of the Jewish people almost being killed, but ending up being saved by a poor Jewish man named Mordecai, and his beautiful niece Esther. The Jewish people of Amsterdam in the 17th century could be found praying to Saint Esther in this celebration. Saints are not found in the Jewish tradition, so this is an obvious Iberian Catholic intrusion (Nadler, 2001, p. 49). As early as the mid-sixteenth century, Portuguese conversos, or marranos, began fleeing the Inquisitions in Spain and Portugal to go to the Netherlands. Conversos and marranos were the descendants of Jewish people that had outwardly converted to Christianity during the Inquisition, but were suspected of practicing Judaism in private, without large gatherings, or leaders (“Christian-Jewish Relations,” n.d., Para. 1). There are two myths about how and why Jewish people settled in Amsterdam specifically, but the truth is that many Portuguese merchants migrated up from Antwerp (a southern country), because Amsterdam had greater business and economic opportunities. People also migrated to the Netherlands to escape religious persecution and to live in a place without a uniform religion (Nadler, 2001, pgs. 43-44). In 1579, there was a kind of constitution for the United Provinces of the Netherlands called the Union of Utrecht; in article 13, it was stated that every person should have freedom of religion, and no one should be persecuted based on how they choose to worship the divine. The reality was much less tolerant. In the last decades of the sixteenth century up to the middle of the seventeenth, the only religion that was actually allowed to be practiced in most cities and provinces was the Dutch Reformed Church, or Calvinism. In 1604 and 1605, the cities Alkmaar and Haarlem allowed Jewish people to practice Judaism openly, but Amsterdam didn’t allow this until 1619. Even when Amsterdam did allow Jews to practice openly, they had 3 restrictions on their economic and political rights. There were also rules against Jewish people going to certain social activities with Christians, and rules against intermarriage. In the early seventeenth century, there were internal theological and political conflicts in the United Provinces. Christian denominations were always fighting to gain more power over all of the other denominations. In the United Provinces, the two that had the largest disagreements were Calvinists and Remonstrants, both of which were Protestant movements. Calvinists believed in the teachings of John Calvin (1509-1564). In a basic sense, they believed in predestination (or that everything has been destined by G-d), the sovereignty of G-d, and would not tolerate any divergence from doctrinal orthodoxy (Slick, 2017). Remonstrants followed the teachings of Jacobus Arminius, who denied predestination (Nadler, 2001, p. 45). This disagreement quickly bled over from being a religious dispute into a political one. Eventually, in the Synod of Dort of 1618-1619, the Calvinist Church expelled the Remonstrants, which really strengthened the intolerant aspects of Calvinism, resulting in any kind of deviance from orthodoxy being even more unacceptable than before (Nadler, 2001, pgs. 45-46). So when Jewish people were given official recognition in Amsterdam in 1619, they were given it on the condition that they uphold a very strict observance of Jewish law. Their recognition could be taken away if they were seen as letting their religion stray into the other religions around them (namely Christianity), or not being serious about their religion, which must have left them with a strong devotion to being cautious, and keeping a low profile. The Jewish people of Amsterdam needed a way to maintain discipline and enforce conformity in order to stay afloat, so they used a form of punishment called a cherem (excommunication). Cherem is punishment by denying the offender a part in community life, 4 usually only for a couple of days, but sometimes weeks, and more rarely months, or years. Between 1622 and 1683 the Amsterdam Portuguese community used this tactic thirty-six times, and threatened to use it fifty other times to show the community what not to do. For the most part, even after being banned, the person would be let back into the congregation. Usually, if the person just apologized, and paid a fine, he would be let back into the community. The seriousness of the offense dictated how much the person would be denied a part of community life (Nadler, 2001, p. 47). It could go from a denial of eye contact to a denial of being allowed to participate in the community as a whole. There were different kinds of offenses that were punishable, which were attached to each specific community’s rules and regulations. There were religious rules that would result in punishment if broken, such as attendance at synagogue, organization of a minyan (the grouping of 10 or more people required to say specific Jewish prayers), observance of holidays, and the purchase of kosher meat (meat that was blessed by a rabbi). There were ethical regulations, such as gambling, or public lewd behavior. There were social regulations like marrying in secret (i.e. without parental consent, and not in the presence of a rabbi). Some other examples of things that could get someone excommunicated are: making public statements that ridicule what other members of the community (especially the rabbi) say, printing a book without permission, having theological discussions with gentiles (non-Jewish people), Jewish women cutting the hair of gentile women, and writing letters to Spain containing anything about the Jewish religion. (Nadler, 2001, p. 48) The point of the cherem was to enforce social, religious, and ethical conduct that was becoming to a proper Jewish community, and didn’t offend the political-religious powers in Amsterdam. The Jewish community in Amsterdam was founded by the descendants of 5 conversos, who had just recently been reintroduced to the traditions and norms of Judaism. The fact that they were cut off from Jewish texts for so long might have made the Jewish community feel insecure about its practices, making them overcorrect, and feel the need to be rigorously observant. They also had to reassure their Dutch hosts that their community was orthodox and controlled. All of that being said, there were Jewish people that stumbled in being observant Jews, but they weren’t threatened with or punished by a statement of excommunication as scathing and permanent as the one issued to Spinoza: The lords of the ma’amad, having long known of the evil opinions and acts of Baruch de Spinoza, they have endeavored by various means and promises, to turn him from his evil ways.