Upcoming Events
Neta Elkayam, Halutzim
At a glance:
- Decemeber 11 - "Spinoza" Film Screening & Discussion
- Coming soon: Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series 2025: Partners, Outsiders and Others: Sephardi Jews and the Global Left - Details TBA
December 11, 2024
Wednesday, December 11
12 PM ET in Lown 315
RSVP NOW
The Brandeis community is invited to a screening of the documentary "Spinoza – 6 Reasons for the Excommunication of the Philosopher", followed by a discussion with Professor Eugene Sheppard, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought and Interim Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry. Movie snacks will be provided. RSVPs are required.
About the film: A 17th century Jewish Portuguese philosopher born and raised in Amsterdam, Benedictus (also called Bento and Baruch) Spinoza was excommunicated by the city's Jewish authorities in 1656. Many scholars suspect that his later famous and infamous writings questioning of the nature of God and the divine origin of the Hebrew Bible rendered him a dangerous heretic. Centuries later, this act of excommunication is considered a formative event in the development of modern Jewish thought and philosophy more generally. David Ofek’s stylized and fascinating documentary excavates this history, tracing six reasons why Spinoza had been expelled and delves into various accounts of why his radically unconventional ideas were revolutionary in his time and continue to resonate today. (Running time: 55 minutes. In Hebrew, Dutch and Engish, with English subtitles.) Watch the trailer.
Sponsored by the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, the Center for German and European Studies, and the Mandel Center for the Humanities.