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<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rabbirichwolpoe@gmail.com">rabbirichwolpoe@gmail.com</a> wrote:
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<pre wrap="">RZS:
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<pre wrap="">The chilul Hashem issue that the Rosh raises is that since the Moslems
take blasphemy against their religion very seriously, if we were to be
lenient with this blasphemer against *our* religion they would conclude
that we don't take it so seriously.
</pre>
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<pre wrap="">A professor at YU claimed that Spinoza was put in Cheirem due to Pressure
from local non-Jews who would not tolerate his blasphemy and expected
the Jews to be in solidarity with their concerns.
</pre>
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<blockquote><a
href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/spinoza-12903">George
Saver wrote: </a><br>
"Thus the Sephardim were relatively recent refugees who had to keep in
the good graces of the authorities of the Dutch Netherlands. . . .
Spinoza, and before him Uriel da Costa, had broken the official pledge
the Sephardim had made to the Dutch government upon their arrival in
the Netherlands that they would not tolerate the presence of atheists
or “godless men” in their midst. The Sephardim had to conform to Dutch
tradition and become, as it were, more Dutch than their Dutch hosts or
else run the risk of being ruined economically or perhaps even
expelled. In essence, therefore, Spinoza's excommunication was based on
economic and political rather than on religious factors. . . ."</blockquote>
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