The Jewish Thought and Psychoanalysis Lectures

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.

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.

Acknowledgements About the editor and contributors Preface CHAPTER ONE Insight and tradition: The Enlightenment, psychoanalysis, and the Jews Eli Zaretsky CHAPTER TWO Forgiveness in Judaism and psychoanalysis Stephen Frosh CHAPTER THREE Sigmund Freud, the Jewish body, and hysteria Sander L. Gilman CHAPTER FOUR Unconscious communication, psychoanalysis, and religious experience Marsha Aileen Hewitt CHAPTER FIVE Psychoanalysis in Israel: Trauma, anti-Semitism, and victimization Eran Rolnik CHAPTER SIX A Talmudist and a psychoanalyst encounter a Talmud tale Ruth Calderon and Harvey Schwartz References Index,

Acknowledgements

About the editor and contributors

Preface

CHAPTER ONE
Insight and tradition: The Enlightenment, psychoanalysis, and the Jews
Eli Zaretsky

CHAPTER TWO
Forgiveness in Judaism and psychoanalysis
Stephen Frosh

CHAPTER THREE
Sigmund Freud, the Jewish body, and hysteria
Sander L. Gilman

CHAPTER FOUR
Unconscious communication, psychoanalysis, and religious experience
Marsha Aileen Hewitt

CHAPTER FIVE
Psychoanalysis in Israel: Trauma, anti-Semitism, and victimization
Eran Rolnik

CHAPTER SIX
A Talmudist and a psychoanalyst encounter a Talmud tale
Ruth Calderon and Harvey Schwartz

References

Index

• Edited by Harvey J. Schwartz

fascinating in pointing out the history of psychoanalysis, its trajectory and its strong links to Freud’s Jewish identity and Jewish thought. Many of these concepts continue to influence therapeutic practice today.

— Val Simanowitz, counsellor and supervisory – Therapy Today Sept 2020

‘timely and pertinent […] The dialogue between the two protagonists — one, a female talmudic scholar, the other a clinically practicing psychoanalyst — is fascinating. This final discussion also serves to complete the circle of looking at the ways in which Jewish thought and psychoanalysis have influenced and fertilized one another, and how some aspects of this union are viewed through the lens of current social issues.’

— Shmuel Erlich, The Hebrew University, 'Becoming Post-Communist: Jews and the New Political Cultures of Russia and Eastern Europe'