New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656 at Jewish Theatre Grand Rapids

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2. New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656

Young Baruch de Spinoza is a successful merchant, would-be philosopher, and heir apparent to Saul Mortera, chief Rabbi of Amsterdam. But Amsterdam's Jews have made a fateful arrangement with the city: they've agreed to "police" their own for unorthodox beliefs. When Spinoza is accused of atheism, Mortera summons him to the synagogue to answer for himself. No written record survives of what happened inside Temple Talmud Torah on July 27, 1656, but this eloquent and masterful drama opens the temple doors on a dispute about philosophical and theological ideas that still reverberates today.