Baruch de Spinoza The Jew of Voorburg, Expulsion and Exile The philosopher Baruch de Spinoza was a Portuguese Jew born in 1632 in Amsterdam, the son of a successful dealer in Mediterranean foods, but was cast out of the Portuguese synagogue in 1656 after falling out with Jewish biblical scholars and disputing core elements of Judaism, such that he was considered an atheist. However, he was both during and after his life “identified by his Jewishness”, and for Jewish intellect