Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Whenever I read the Lubavitcher website, it seems as if we are reliving history. The Lubavitcher character assassination of Shmuley Boteach reminds me of how the 17th century Dutch Jewish community treated one of its heretical spirits and his name was Uriel da Costa (1585-1640).

Uriel was born in Portugal to a family of converses (people who were forcibly converted to Catholicism) in the 16th century. After studying at Coimbra, he became interested in Judaism. His family fled Portugal and settled in Amsterdam, where he had hoped the Jewish community would welcome his return.

Or, so he thought . . .

Uriel found the practices of rabbinic Judaism at odds with the ethical message of Tanakh, which he felt were too rigid and mechanical. In 1624, he published one of his controversial books, “Examination of the Traditions of the Pharisees Compared with the Written Law,” which created shockwaves throughout the Amsterdam Jewish and Christian community. The Dutch officials burned Uriel’s controversial book, and he was fined for undermining the foundations of religious faith. Although the Dutch people were reasonably tolerant toward the Jews, the Jewish community feared Uriel might endanger their welfare, so the Jewish community decided to excommunicate Uriel da Costa. Using him as a scapegoat meant the Jews of Amsterdam could remain in safety.

Uriel was expendable.

Although Uriel felt strong about his religious principles, he finally decided to acquiesce to the Orthodox Jewish authorities of his time. If his readmission meant that he would, “become an ape, to live among apes,” he would do so, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

However, Uriel soon became disillusioned with Mosaic Law altogether, and felt that all religions were “human inventions.” By 1640, the Jewish community decided to discipline Uriel. They gave him 39 lashes in the synagogue. They placed a large door over him, and the Jewish community literally walked over him, treating him as though he was dead.

But he soon would be.

After when he returned home, he wrote his autobiography and committed suicide.

Uriel da Costa is a tragic story about how the Jewish community alienated one of its rebellious spirits. Young Benedict de Spinoza made sure that when he wrote his famous works, he instructed his followers to publish them posthumously. Had there been a JTS or a Hebrew Union College in Amsterdam, both of these men would have found a home for their idiosyncratic ideas of theology. Unfortunately, they lived in a rather draconian period of Jewish history, a time when people preferred to burn books and ideas, rather than confront them with better ideas.

When I read about the Chabad reactions to Shmuley Boteach’s controversial, “Kosher Jesus,” I shudder to think what the Jews of Crown Heights would do if they were living in the 17th century. Although they cannot “walk over him,” as they literally did with Uriel da Costa, they are verbally dismembering him before the entire Jewish and Christian world to watch in disbelief.

Check out some of the comments any of you can find on:

http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=18125&alias=shmuley-boteach-blasts-collive [1]

Anyone peering from the outside might think Shmuley Boteach is a modern-day “heretic.” The term “heresy,” derives from the Greek αἵρεσις (heresis), which originally meant “choice.” In other words, heresy is another way of saying, “freedom of thought.” Religious communities typically chastise these rebellious spirits in their effort to censor ideas they find potentially “subversive” and “dangerous.”

It takes a brave soul to break away from the herd mentality seen in the Hassidic world. In some ways, leaving that community is analogous to Adam and Eve’s expulsion from their Edenic world (cf. Genesis 3). The freedom of thought sometimes demands that the prodigal sons and daughters make a bold choice in choosing personal integrity over conformity.

Once you leave the cloistered world of the Hasidim, there is no going back. I hope Rabbi Shmuley realizes that his break with Lubavitch is both necessary as it is important. The time has arrived for him to cut the ties that seek to bind and gag his conscience.

Shmuley Boteach deserves a better fate than Uriel da Costa.

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Notes:

[1] Here is a random selection of diatribes:

“You’re a loser which not many have interest in you! Have a nice life.”

“His first was KOSHER Giluy Aroyos (incestuous relations)
His next is KOSHER Avoda Zara (idolatry)
I’m sure that his next one will be KOSHER MURDER!”

“S.B. is the’ real ‘mesis umadiach’ (sinner who incites others to sin)…. and there is a chiyuv (obligation) on rabbonei-Lubavitch (Chabad rabbis) to ‘uvi’arto horo mikirbecho‘ (exterminate the evil from your midst).”

“Nothing goes down… other than Boteach, may this happen speedily in our days and let us say Amen.”

“Shmuley, if I ever see you I will throw rocks at your car, spit on you and chuck dirty diapers at your house.”

“The soton (Satan) has in every generation someone in who he dresses up to do his work.”

“It is time for Boteach to print a book with the name The Kosher Chazer (pig) – and to put his picture on the front cover”

“…We must take action to stop this ego-maniacal monster.”