Q&A: Whose Name Was Blotted Out?
Whose Name Was Blotted Out?
Question
I saw that a doctor (in my opinion) who researches Spinoza was supposed to come to the synagogue library in Amsterdam, where they excommunicated him, for photography purposes…
The synagogue there today is also supported by the shop it operates, and of course there are statues of Spinoza there… a way to sustain the synagogue financially.
Bottom line, the answer to the request to come and photograph was, in an official letter from the rabbi of the community, that the researcher is an undesirable person and should not come.
Is this hypocrisy? To make a living from the sale and aura of Spinoza, while a researcher on the subject is an undesirable person…
Bottom line, the wording of the ban pronounced in the synagogue was that God should blot out his name…
365 years have passed, and even the rabbi there did not know how to write in the letter the names of those who issued the ban… meaning דווקא their name was blotted out.
Precisely Spinoza’s name was not blotted out…
After all, everyone is talking about him…
What does the Rabbi think about this?
Answer
An unnecessary question. If things are as you described, then it really is problematic. And if not, then one needs to know the details. I don’t see a real question here.