Answering A Question with A Question: Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Jewish Thought

Long overdue, this sumptuous anthology of recent writings on the multiple interconnections between Judaism and contemporary psychoanalysis is endlessly illuminating. The range is indeed broad, from theology (God, of course), to biblical narratives (the Garden of Eden narrative), to ritual (shiva) on one side, and from Freud (of course), to Winnicott and Stephen Mitchell on the other. The scholarship is both impeccable and accessible to the general reader. A major contribution to both fields.-Dr. Neil Gillman, Aron Rabinowitz and Simon H. Rifkind Emeritus Professor of Jewish Philosophy, Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Freud famously had one foot in fin de siFcle Vienna and the other in the world of his fellow Jews. His ambivalence about the gap between the Greco-Christian intellectual tradition of secular Vienna and his own Rabbinic tradition has been amply explored and documented. In this rich and original book, Aron and Henik bring these issues into the present. In keeping with relational and post-modern precepts, this effort is dialogic and intertextual; that is, it is not about Freud's dilemma, but rather about exploring and extending contemporary mutual influences. Brilliant and enlightening, this book represents a wide and impressive spectrum of scholarship, and will be of great value to anyone interested in the interface between Judaism, psychoanalysis and culture. So, what's not to like?-Edgar Levenson, MD Fellow Emeritus, Training and Supervisory Analyst and Faculty, William Alanson White Institute

Lewis Aron and Libby Hen ik have edited a fresh and intellectually challenging collection of essays. Each contributor has original insights into history and practice of psychoanalysis, the fascinating question of Freud's Jewish ness, and the role of psychoanalysis in modern Jewish self-understanding.-Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College