The Weight of Ink

Baruch “Benedictus” de Spinoza (he used the name Benedictus for most of his scholarly writings) lived from 1632 to 1677. Spinoza was born in Amsterdam to a Portuguese Jewish family, and (like the character of Ester) educated in a devout Jewish tradition. As a young man, Spinoza began to study with Franciscus van den Enden, a philosopher and former Jesuit priest (van den Enden is also featured as a character in The Weight of Ink). After being exposed to philosophical works, including writings by the French Enlightenment philosopher Descartes, while studying with van den Enden, Spinoza began to explore more controversial and radical beliefs. He publicly questioned Jewish teachings about the Torah and the nature of God (although he never seems to have outright challenged belief in God, or advocated atheism).

In 1656, when Spinoza was only 23 years old, he was formally excommunicated from the Jewish community due to his unorthodox beliefs. Kadish references these events in her novel, adding fictional details about Rabbi Mendes (a fictional character) advocating on behalf of Spinoza. After being expelled from the Jewish community, Spinoza never converted to Christianity. He continued to live in Amsterdam, focusing on writing philosophy and fashioning lenses for microscopes. He attracted significant respect as a thinker, corresponding with many philosophers and intellectuals, and was offered some prestigious academic positions, which he consistently turned down in order to maintain as much intellectual freedom as possible.

Spinoza’s writings built on a foundation of Enlightenment rationalism established by Descartes and others, but challenged the idea of mind-body dualism. Spinoza wrote on almost every aspect of philosophy, including epistemology (the study of knowledge), ethics, and ontology (the study of being). He became especially controversial for his writings about God, and was often associated with atheism. After Spinoza’s death in 1677, his writings were banned in Holland, and they were also added to the Index of Banned Books published by the Catholic church.

However, Spinoza’s writings never denied the existence of God. Instead, he argued for understanding God not as an individual persona or creator figure, but rather as a universal force comprising all of the natural and physical laws of the universe. In Kadish’s novel, Ester rebuts a claim that God is the creator of the universe and exists outside of natural laws with a famous quotation from Spinoza: “Deus siva Natura,” which translates to “God or nature” and reflects Spinoza’s belief that God and the universe are the same thing and do not exist in a hierarchical relationship of creator and created. This claim led to many interpreting Spinoza as denying the existence of God, while it is more accurate to say that he challenged a belief in God as an individual entity.