Herem (censure)

Herem (censure)

Herem (or Chērem חרם), is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. It is a form of shunning, and is similar to excommunication in the Catholic Church. Cognate terms in other Semitic languages include the Arabic term ḥarām (forbidden, taboo, off-limits, sacred or immoral), and the Ethiopic `irm (meaning accursed).

The most famous case of a herem is that of Spinoza, the seventeenth century philosopher.

Also, Leon Trotsky and Grigory Zinoviev became subject of herem. Sometime in 1918, while Ukraine was under German occupation, the rabbis of Odessa pronounced herem against Trotsky, Zinoviev, and other Jewish Bolshevik leaders in the synagogue.

Read more about Herem (censure):  Summary, Etymology and Cognate Terms, In The Talmud, Twenty-four Offenses, The Niddui, The Herem, The Nezifah, Since The Enlightenment, As Distinct From Catholic Church Excommunication