February 21 1677 – 19 Adar 1 5437
Jewish philosopher and skeptic Baruch (Benito) Spinoza passed away. Spinoza’s life and writings had substantial influence both inside and outside Jewish circles, arousing intense controversy as well as admiration during his lifetime and beyond. His ideas in the fields of ethics, epistemology, political philosophy and especially theology were groundbreaking, and are often seen as ushering in the age of Reason. He was also among the first to shock the Jewish world with his biblical criticism, and to introduce an immanent concept of God which was widely assumed to be a pantheistic heresy. Though his revolutionary ideas won him a place of honor in the halls of academia, he also paid a heavy personal price: in 1656 he was excommunicated by the leaders of the Jewish community in Amsterdam, the civil authorities of the city and even his own teacher, and forced to find shelter in the backwater of Rijnsburg near Leiden. Spinoza moved a number of times in the next few years, grinding optical lenses and making scientific instruments for a living. Eventually he moved to the Hague where he lived on a small stipend within the growing community of Dutch free-thinking intellectuals until his death of tuberculosis on February 21 1677.