Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Cherem (or rem ), 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 ar m (forbidden, taboo, off-limits, sacred or immoral), and the Ethiopic `irm (meaning accursedThe most famous case of a cherem is that of Spinoza, the seventeenth century philosopher. Also Leon Trotsky became subject of cherem in 1918.