Freud’s relationship with his Judaism – his by virtue of his self- description as a “fanatical Jew” – was framed by two of his convictions. He was centered both by his passionate cultural affiliation and by his atheism. Within these internal guideposts lay a Jewish life layered by tensions, pleasures, and identifications. His creation – psychoanalysis – has labored to honor its Jewish influences. Recent studies of these insights have contributed to the current interest in listening more carefully to the individual meanings of analysands’ religious life.This lecture series was designed to introduce to the public both the similarities and the differences between the psychoanalytic and the Jewish world views. The contributors are among the thought leaders of our generation who work at the interface of the intrapsychic and religious states of mind. We learn how each has influenced the other and perhaps how each has been enriched by the other.A tour de force delving into the influence of Freud’s Jewish roots on the development of psychoanalysis.

Thought-provoking explorations of the relationship between psychoanalysis and Judaism, which investigate themes of tradition, forgiveness, hysteria, the body, unconscious communication, religious experience, trauma, anti-Semitism, and victimization. Based on the hugely successful Jewish Thought and Psychoanalysis lecture series, it contains contributions from Eli Zaretsky, Stephen Frosh, Sander L. Gilman, Marsha Aileen Hewitt, Eran Rolnik, Ruth Calderon, and Harvey Schwartz. Freud's relationship with his Judaism - his by virtue of his self- description as a "fanatical Jew" - was framed by two of his convictions. He was centered both by his passionate cultural affiliation and by his atheism. Within these internal guideposts lay a Jewish life layered by tensions, pleasures, and identifications. His creation - psychoanalysis - has labored to honor its Jewish influences. Recent studies of these insights have contributed to the current interest in listening more carefully to the individual meanings of analysands' religious life. This lecture series was designed to introduce to the public both the similarities and the differences between the psychoanalytic and the Jewish world views. The contributors are among the thought leaders of our generation who work at the interface of the intrapsychic and religious states of mind. We learn how each has influenced the other and perhaps how each has been enriched by the other. A tour de force delving into the influence of Freud's Jewish roots on the development of psychoanalysis.

What distinguishes one human from another? What exactly does it mean to discover your true self? In Jewish Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, Michael Oppenheim added a modern twist to the age old theories of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud with the interjection of Jewish Philosophy.

From one of the most innovative and acclaimed biblical commentators at work today, here is a revolutionary analysis of the intersection between religion and psychoanalysis in the stories of the men and women of the Bible. For centuries scholars and rabbis have wrestled with the biblical narrative, attempting to answer the questions that arise from a plain reading of the text. In The Murmuring Deep, Avivah Zornberg informs her literary analysis of the text with concepts drawn from Freud, Winnicott, Laplanche, and other psychoanalytic thinkers to give us a new understanding of the desires and motivations of the men and women whose stories form the basis of the Bible. Through close readings of the biblical and midrashic texts, Zornberg makes a powerful argument for the idea that the creators of the midrashic commentary, the med­ieval rabbinic commentators, and the Hassidic commentators were themselves on some level aware of the complex interplay between conscious and unconscious levels of experience and used this knowledge in their interpretations. In her analysis of the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, Abraham, Rebecca, Isaac, Joseph and his brothers, Ruth, and Esther–how they communicated with the world around them, with God, and with the various parts of their selves–Zornberg offers fascinating insights into the interaction between consciousness and unconsciousness. In discussing why God has to “seduce” Adam into entering the Garden of Eden or why Jonah thinks he can hide from God by getting on a ship, Zornberg enhances our appreciation of the Bible as the foundational text in our quest to understand what it means to be human.

In this clear and thoughtful book, an international group of distinguished authors explore the central issues and future directions facing psychoanalytic theory and practice. The book explores four main questions in the development of psychoanalysis: what psychoanalysis is as an endeavour now and what it may be in the future; the effect of social issues on psychoanalysis and of psychoanalysis on social issues, such as race and gender; the importance of psychoanalytic institutes on shaping future psychoanalytic theory and practice; and the likely major issues that will be shaping psychoanalysis in years to come. Including contributions from within every school of psychoanalytic thought, this book is essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychoanalytic psychotherapists and all who are curious about the future directions of the profession.

Dennis B. Klein explores the Jewish consciousness of Freud and his followers and the impact of their Jewish self-conceptions on the early psychoanalytic movement. Using little-known sources such as the diaries and papers of Freud's protégé Otto Rank and records of the Vienna B'nai B'rith that document Freud's active participation in that Jewish fraternal society, Klein argues that the feeling of Jewish ethical responsibility, aimed at renewing ties with Germans and with all humanity, stimulated the work of Freud, Rank, and other analysts and constituted the driving force of the psychoanalytic movement.

Explores the unacknowledged psychological element in Maimonides’ work, one which prefigures the latter insights of Freud.