Chaos Theory describes the Butterfly Effect as a phenomenon by which small disturbances in complex systems can produce large, unpredictable consequences over time. The meteorologist Edward Lorenz first identified this principle while studying weather patterns, observing that tiny variations in the initial conditions of his models could lead to dramatically different outcomes. In a lecture delivered in 1972, he captured the idea in a famous question—“Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”—suggesting that seemingly minor disturbances can initiate chains of consequences that unfold far away in time and space.

History sometimes behaves in similar ways. And that brings us to Spinoza.

Little is known about the personal life of scholar-renegade Baruch Spinoza. Even less is known about how he initiated a butterfly effect that took four hundred years to mature.

The excommunication of a philosopher in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, for example, might appear to be a local communal flap of the wings, if you will. Yet, that philosopher’s ideas travelled quietly across Europe for generations, gathering momentum. Two centuries later, when they reached another philosopher, Salomon Rubin, they set in motion a sequence of events whose repercussions would ripple out over the next hundred years of my family’s history, culminating in a tornado.

It is a long shot blaming Spinoza with family events that took place centuries after his death. You cannot blame a Texas tornado on a butterfly somewhere in the Amazon. I do intend, however, to link the flap of the butterfly’s wings to the tornadoes that hit us.

This is not an emotional trip. It is a failure analysis. I will outline effective strategies for handling a herem and assess them with several case studies. And I will present how Spinoza’s butterfly effect migrated through time, creating a few tornadoes along the way, centuries after the butterfly first flapped its wings.

My initial encounter with this effect occurred during my research for the book I Want This in Writing: Heroes. Rogues. Family. This is when I discovered my connection with Salomon (Shlomo) Rubin. That delayed encounter is just one more aspect of the prolonged herem.

 Herem’ed by the Angels

A herem (חֵרֶם)—a loaded word in Hebrew—is a formal religious ban imposed by a rabbinical court. It calls for absolute exclusion from social and religious institutions: no business dealings, no communal prayer, no burial rites, no contact, no help, and no support in any way. In short, it means “you are dead to us.” It is said that herems are used sparingly but have devastating effects when applied. That’s the point.

The most dramatic example of herem is Spinoza’s, which happened in Amsterdam in 1656, and which stands out because its language is unusually fierce. Here are a few choice phrases issued by the rabbinical court, beginning with a curse: “With the judgment of the angels and with that of the saints, we excommunicate, expel, curse, and damn Baruch de Spinoza…” Not exactly administrative language. On the contrary, it invokes cosmic authority—heaven joins the court. Also, it shows that the goal is not to correct or modify behavior. The objective is to terminate and annihilate.

The document then goes on to state: “Cursed be he [Spinoza] by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down and cursed be he when he rises up.” In other words, the curse extends over every moment in time, every physical condition, and every action.

Next comes the annihilation clause: “May the Lord blot out his name from under heaven…” Total erasure.

And then came the social death sentence, in the form of detailed........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)