Baruch de
Spinoza was born on 24 November, 1632, to parents Miguel de Espinoza
and Ana Debora in Amsterdam in Dutch Republic. Baruch was raised in a
traditional Jewish setup. Spinoza’s Portuguese parents were among many Jews who
were forcibly converted to Christianity but continued to practice Judaism in
secret. After being arrested, tortured, and condemned by the inquisition in
Portugal, they escaped in Amsterdam, here Spinoza’s father worked as a
prosperous Portuguese Sephardic Jewish merchant. Spinoza’s mother passed away
when he was only six years old. Spinoza's father, Miguel, died in 1654 when Spinoza was 21. Spinoza
never married and has no more children. He was
enrolled in the Keter Torah Yeshiva for his early education, and was also
coached in languages, young Baruch gained expertise in many languages such as
Portuguese, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Dutch and Latin. Baruch de was a brilliant
student, and he showed desire to become a rabbi but due to the untimely death
of his elder brother in 1650, at the age of 17 he had to give up his education
and joined the family business. In 1653, he
resumed his studies and began taking Latin classes from Frances van den Enden and
began teaching in his school. Spinoza spent his remaining 21 years in writing and studying as a private
scholar. During his
time in Amsterdam, Spinoza wrote his Short Treatise on God, Man, and His
Well-Being, which he never published in his lifetime. He also wrote many quotes
one of them is given below, “The highest
activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to
understand is to be free.” He died on 21 February, 1677 at the age of 44.