Ian Buruma's new biography, "Spinoza: Freedoms Messiah," presents the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza as a champion of free thought, whose ideas about the nature of God were highly controversial in both the Jewish and Calvinist communities.

The documentary "Spinoza: Six Reasons for the Excommunication of the Philosopher" explores the motivations behind Baruch Spinoza's excommunication by the Amsterdam Portuguese Sephardic community.

The author expresses their concern and dismay at seeing members of Neturei Karta, a fringe ultra-Orthodox Jewish group, participating in protests alongside Palestinians and their sympathizers.

Frieda Vizel, an ex-Hasidic Jew from the Satmar community in New York, offers walking tours of the insular enclave she once belonged to.

A college student and devout Lutheran, Ryan Turnipseed, faced the possibility of excommunication by his church after criticizing the church's new edition of Luthers Large Catechism on Twitter.

In this episode, Rabbi Kook's statement about a potential relationship between Spinoza's pantheistic ideas and the teachings of the Besht is explored.

The text discusses the story of R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and the Oven of Akhnai from the Talmud, focusing on different interpretations and analyses of the narrative.

In this episode, the focus is on the significant letter written by the Vilna Gaon in 1796, where he explains his objections to the ideas of the Besht (founder of Hasidism).

The article delves into the alleged assassination attempt on the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, speculated to have been orchestrated by a member of the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam, from which Spinoza was excommunicated in the 17th century.

Rebecca Goldstein's book "Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity" sparked intense engagement from a previous reader, evidenced by extensive notes and comments in Yiddish, English, Spanish, and Hebrew throughout the text.

In 1927, Hebrew University Professor Joseph Klausner attempted to symbolically rescind the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza, hailing him as a Jewish brother and celebrating his achievements.

Saadi Besalel a-Levi's memoir, "Singing Gentile Songs," offers a unique insight into 19th-century Salonica, shedding light on the lost Ottoman and Jewish world.