September 16th Questions

2. Why do scholars consider the former converso communities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London to be the "first modern Jews"?

There are multiple reasons the Jews of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London were considered to be the “first modern Jews”. In Amsterdam, the Jews had a hold on Dutch sugar plantations, which allowed them to take part in the Dutch Atlantic trade. For the first time in Jewish history, these Jews separated themselves from the rigid traditional life style. This was significant because this way of Jewish life was never contested before. They were basically learning Judaism from scratch. None of their religious Laws affected everyday life, which had never been done before.  

4. Uriel da Costa and Baruch de Spinoza both wrote treatises that challenged the traditional Jewish view of the Bible and Jewish law. What were their objections, and how did they express them? How were they received by the Amsterdam Sephardic Jewish community?

Uriel da Costa and Baruch de Spinoza both challenged main structures in Jewish religion. The Torah and how Rabbis interpret were not to be challenged without great backlash. Uriel da Costa wrote, An Examination of the Traditions of the Pharisees in which he critiqued rabbinical tradition. Costa did not agree with circumcision, a tradition erected by a Rabbi. Both believed the law of a rabbi could never overpower the law of God. Freudenthal writes about Spinoza, “We order that nobody should communicate with him orally or in writing, or show him any favor, or stay with him under the same roof, or come within four ells of him, or read anything composed or written by him.” His work, along with da Costa’s, was shunned by the Jewish community and was to never be spoken of.