A descendant of a Marrano family, he was raised as a Christian in Portugal and became chief treasurer of an abbey. After studying the Old Testament, Acosta decided to return to Judaism. He fled to the thriving Sephardic Jewish community in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, but he grew disillusioned with the local rabbinate. He viewed it as overly mechanistic, and insufficiently spiritual. He was excommunicated twice after being reinstated once. He found the disciplinary penance offered him in the presence of the Jewish congregation too difficult to bear and committed suicide. [b. c. 1585, d. 1640]
Author’s note: The Amsterdam rabbinate was peppered with former Marranos who had transitioned back to mainstream Orthodox Judaism. As such, to protect their bona fides, they were often severe in their application of Jewish law. This same community of rabbinics would later ostracize Spinoza.