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PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM The Jewish Influences in Psychoanalysis and

Psychodynamic Theories

Thesis · August 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34717.82400

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PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 1

The Jewish Influences in Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Theories

Gersom Baraza Tudela

Upper Iowa University

Author’s note:

This dissertation was composed as the Senior Project in fulfillment of the requirements of

the Bachelor of Science with major in psychology during the academic year 2015-16 and

presented in the 6th intake. This senior project was supervised by Dr. Angelis Chan at UIU- Hong

Kong campus.
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 2

Abstract

The present dissertation discussed the influence that Jewish culture and religion had on the

founders of Psychology in general, and the psychoanalytic approach in particular that was

founded by Sigmund Freud. The personal background of the Freud, Adler, Jung and Erikson

were analyzed in order to reveal whether the authors had any meaningful connection and contact

with Jewish concepts and literature that could have served them as a source for drawing out ideas.

Their theories and ideas were compared with previous Jewish teachings, doctrines, and texts in

search of correspondences, agreements, disagreement, quotes and the like that could indicate

correspondence. Historical proofs were presented along with authors’ quotes discussing Jewish

themes. Historical background that explains the lack of emphasis, and even purposeful covering,

of the Jewish conceptual contributions was discussed. The discussion showed how there is a high

degree of correspondence between the works of Freud, Jung and Erikson and Jewish religious

texts and concepts that preceded the authors. Regarding Adler no conclusive correspondence

could be found. The author recommends further awareness and research of the topic.

Keywords: Freud, Jung, Adler, Erikson, Kabbalah, Talmud, Psychoanalysis.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 3

The Jewish Influences Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Theories

As the author was carrying out his studies in Psychology at UIU, he realized that many of

the early Psychoanalytical theories and authors proposed ideas that appear to be very similar to

Jewish concepts that form part of Yiddishkeit. Yiddishkeit is a Yiddish word from German that

means “Jewishness.” It does not refer only to ethnicity, but also to religious beliefs, Jewish

culture, Jewish way of life, and system of values (Cohen, 2001; Naumburg, 2007) as found in

European countries, the Middle East, and the Russian Empire.

The author also realized that most of the founders of the psychoanalytic approach in

psychology such as Freud, Adler, Erickson, and Klein were of Jewish ancestry and had a Jewish

background. Carl Jung’s close assistant and mistress was a woman with a strong Jewish

background. Bion and Winnicott had a keen interest in Jewish mystical text and concepts. As a

result of those similarities, the author started to gain different insights into the concepts and

theories of the psychoanalyst approach.

This is of much importance since in order to understand the different concepts that are

explained in the theories it is best to understand the background of those concepts and how the

author used them in that specific context. By doing so, we will be able to use those concepts and

theories with more skill when counseling.

The hypothesis of this research is that there is a clear correspondence between the Jewish

religious and cultural texts from before 20th century C.E. and many of the main theories and

development of psychoanalysis. These ideas were drawn from Jewish sources and reshaped to fit

a secular and scientific formulation.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 4

Literature Review

The relationship between psychoanalysis and Yiddishkeit has been discussed before by a

few authors. Bakan (1958) conducted a scholarly research into the connection between the

personality of Freud and his cultural history. He asserts that wide parts of Freud’s theory such as

his interpretation of the dreams and ideas about sexuality are based in the mystical writings of

Judaism.

Later on, Klein (1981, 1985) explored Jewish identity and consciousness of Freud and his

associates as well as their influence in the development of psychoanalysis. Especially useful are

the records of Freud’s closed associate Otto Rank and Freud’s activities in the Jewish Bnai Brith

society. Klein’s main point is that their Jewish ethical responsibility to be a light unto the nations

of the cultural notion of the chosen people promoted the development of psychoanalysis and

their humanistic approach.

Berke (2015) claimed that Freud borrowed from the Jewish mystical tradition in order to

establish his new discipline of subjectivity. Moreover, he paid attention to the apparent

correlation and similarities between psychoanalysis, quantum physics, and Jewish mysticism.

Berke also mentioned that when Freud met with Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber Schneersohn in 1903, it

was a point of turning point in analyzing Freud and his Jewish identity. The author hypothesized

that there was concealed religious Freud, or alter ego, different from the secular image that he

projected to the general public who manifested in his encounters with Rabbis, Kabbalists and

Jewish scholars. Berke takes notice of Freud’s library that included books on Jewish mysticism,

and the date of Freud’s voluntary death on Yom Kippur, 1939.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 5

Hoffman (1981) showed how the Kabbalistic writings and teachings of Hasidic spiritual

masters exerted a direct or indirect influence on the establishment and development of modern

psychological thought regarding areas such as dreams, social interest, emotion management,

meditation, and sexuality. Moreover, Schachter & Hoffman (1983) examined the history and

techniques that those Hasidic masters used in advising people. These regular therapy encounters

discussed topics such as health, livelihood, family problems as well as spiritual growth and self-

actualization. These techniques that were in place in the 18th century C.E. included ancient dream

interpretation techniques, shock or traumatic experience therapy, sexual repression, mental

exercises, therapy training techniques among others.

Similarly, Mortimer (1982) gives many examples of how Judaism provides insights into

psychoanalytic theories and how the psychoanalytic approach can contribute to the study of

Judaism. One of his main points is that although the scope and purpose of both disciplines differ,

both share similarities in methods, structures and on occasion, even conclusions. In another vein,

Macdonell (2002) discusses the impossibility of understanding psychoanalysis contributions to

science, politics, and philosophy without paying attention into the role of Judaism since its birth.

Weiss (2005) showed with therapeutic examples how to merge psychological analysis

with kabalistic teachings and techniques such as the etz hachaim or the tree of life. He illustrated

the connection between psychological conditions and imbalances the kabbalistic terminology

hypothesizing about the "spiritual genomes" within all of us. His dissertation included references

to discussions of Jewish sages with modern philosophy and psychology.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 6

Similarly, Eigen (2012, 2014) expanded two seminars given in postdoctoral programs using

Kabbalah as a theoretical matrix for psychoanalysis. Bion and Winnicott are the main

psychoanalytic authors of this work. Some of the topics discussed by Eigen are clinical cases

which touched upon traversing sensory life, intuition, language, common sense among many

others.

More recently, Drob (2000, 2001, and 2009) provided a philosophical and psychological

interpretation of the major symbols of the theosophical Kabbalah. He also analyzed major

symbols of the Kabbalah as dialogue between ancient and modern thought, between Eastern and

Western philosophy. The author demonstrates that Kabbalistic doctrines can be organized into a

matrix that includes ancient concepts about God, universe, and mankind into a simple allegory

that it is quite recurrent in sundry forms such as contemporary philosophy and psychology.

Drob also identified how there are correlations between the esoteric Jewish teachings,

contemporary philosophy and psychology that provide deep insights and understanding into

these different fields. He also explored Jung's dreams about Kabbalah, the influence of esoteric

Jewish teachings on Analytical psychology, and Jung's archetypes as a particular expression of

the Kabbalistic symbolism.

Operational Definitions

Ego: According to Freud is a part of the id that has been modified due to exposure to the

external influences and mediates between the id and the superego. It follows the reality principle

which tries to accommodate the needs of the id within the social rules of the superego. It is the

rational part of the mind.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 7

Hasidism: Jewish mystical religious movement started in the 1718 by the Baal Shem Tov

(Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer). The movement spread quickly throughout Eastern Europe. One of its

main works is the book of Tanya by Borukhovich, most commonly known as Rabbi Schneur

Zalman of Liadi.

Id: According to Freud is the most primitive part of the psyche and the first to develop in the

humans. It follows the Eros and Tanathos, namely pleasure principle and death instinct. It is

selfish and only seeks self-gratification regardless of the becoming of the occasion. It is a

completely unconscious mental process. It includes the libido.

Kabbalah: Compilation of different works which contain mystical and esoteric teachings of

Judaism which were published since the Middle Ages onwards. It includes as is main

representatives the book of Zohar and the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria in the Etz Hachaim.

Superego: According to Freud is the part of the psyche that assimilated the moral values,

ethics, customs and social conventions of the society in which the individual grows up. Its

function is to push the ego towards socially accepted morals and to strive to perfection. It has

two components to act on the ego which are the conscience and the ego perfect ideal.

Unconscious: In Freud’s words, it is a reservoir of repressed and forgotten memories,

desires, and materials that include the id, the superego’s conscience.

Theoretical Framework

Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theories use as a frame for the analysis of the psyche

the division established by Freud. He theorized that the psyche is made up of the id, Latin for “it”,
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 8

the ego, Latin for “I”, and the superego or Ü ber-Ich which in the original German terminology

literally means “over I”. While Erickson basically accepted most of Freud’s theories as expanded

by Anna Freud, nevertheless Jung broaden the definition of libido, unconscious, and the

dimensions of the Freudian id. Jung identified the id as personal unconscious, but he introduced

a deeper level of unconscious which he referred as collective unconscious where personality

archetypes are found. These archetypes guide personality development towards the end goal of

individualization.

Whereas Freud and Jung were id psychologists, Erikson focused on ego psychology.

Freud analyzed the conflicts between the id and the superego as origin of repression into the id

and the source of neurosis. On the other hand, Erikson stressed the importance of culture and

society as well as their conflicts localized in the ego. Erikson also proposed that if the ego

development originates from successfully overcoming different social character developmental

crises.

These crises are meant to establish different virtues such as trust in others, identity, and

generativity. Erikson elaborated upon Freudian theories, as explained by Anna Freud. This

included the different mechanisms of adaptation of the ego as well as an extension of the

psychosexual stages of development into personality development that includes death. Another

important innovation by Erickson is the epigenetic principle. This principle states there is a

predetermined pattern of development that directs personality evolution throughout eight stages.

The progression through the stages is in part affected by the level of success or failure in

previous stages.
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 9

Adler and later humanistic psychologists focused in the relationship and conflicts

between the ego and the social setting or superego. When fictional goals and desires of the

person clash with the social realities, an inferiority complex develops. These fictional goals are

mainly unconscious as Freud’s describes them.

Adler also stressed a holistic approach and the unity of the person, which is closed to

Jungian analytical psychology, specifically stressing the idea of oneness or wholeness as well as

teleology. The birth order influences in human development is of one of Adler’s main

contributions to the field as well as the concept of inferiority and superiority complex. The idea

that social interest is one of the main drivers of development is his contribution too.

Methodology

This essay combines secondary research information from published works related to the

Jewish influences in psychodynamic theories with archival research on the early authors of the

movement such as Freud, Jung, Adler, and Erikson. Archival research differentiates from

secondary research. Archival research attempts to present proof, evidence and hints that relate to

the hypothesis from the original works of the authors which involves consulting original or

ancient manuscripts in the original languages or with high quality reliable translations.

On the other hand, secondary research draws information from secondary sources and

works which consulted the originals writings in both research and publication stages. Therefore,

there is a difference between using raw data, in case of the primary research, and already

analyzed and interpreted data found in secondary sources.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 10

The aim of this archival research is to find in the original writings of the founders and

early writers of the psychoanalytic movement references, hints or similarities to Jewish ideas

expressed in writings that preceded the birth of the movement. By doing so, these would be

primary sources could provide positive or negative proof of a link between the cultural and

religious background of those authors and the main innovations, theories and ideas that were put

across by the psychoanalytic movement. At the same time, research on Jewish religious texts

from before the beginning of the Psychoanalytic movement will be done in order to find

analogous ideas to the early founders of the discipline.

In order to do so, archival research was done in Hong Kong public libraries and Hong

Kong University Library. Many original works of Freud and Jung are found there. Nonetheless,

there is an absence of most of the works of Adler. This presented a challenge. It proved quite

useful to sort out this problem the access to the Henderson-Wilder online library which has

access to many database full with information about Adler and his original works.

Later on, in the discussion part of the essay, secondary sources and authors are provided

along with more resources and information from original works which were not accessible in the

primary source form at the time being. These sources and the findings are presented, discussed,

contrasted in order to assess how the findings related to previous research done by other authors.

This is important in order to demonstrate that the findings are not one-sided and have support

from either supporting authors or partial support from contending authors. Alternatively,

apparent contradictions between sources and secondary interpretations are reinterpreted under a

harmonious framework or discharged depending on evidence.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 11

Results

In the psychoanalytic academic works of Freud that deal with psychoanalysis there are

some references to Hebrew Bible stories. For instance, Joseph’s account as a dream interpreter

and his interaction with Pharaoh is discussed in his The Interpretation of Dreams (1899, 1913).

There is a complete lack of direct rabbinical literature quotations or Jewish concepts in Freud’s

works.

Nonetheless, when Freud wrote Moses and Monotheism (1939) he focused extensively on

Judaism and the Bible. In a similar vein, in his correspondence with several individuals such as

Fleiss, Martha and Abraham and others, Freud frequently makes references to his Jewish

background, Jewish identity, Talmud and he occasionally used Yiddish in his written

correspondence. For example, he discussed psychoanalysis as “nearly becoming a Jewish

national affair” (Jones, 1955).Freud also does not explain in his Das Ich und das Es(1923), or

any latter works, how he designed the theoretical framework that divides the human psyche in

divided in 3 processes, namely id, ego and superego. Although he claims that his theories are

based in his case studies, but justification for how his framework is derived from it is missing.

In the works of Jung, such as Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (1912), there is a wide

range of references to Hebrew Bible stories such the book of Job, Isaiah among others. These

references are mingled with Christian New Testament verses in koine Greek, classical

philosophers, Christian imagery, and homiletics. Verse quotations and some quotes from the

Jewish classic philosopher such as Philo (first century C.E) are found as well. Similarly, a few
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 12

years later Jung discussed in depth the Hebrew Bible book of Job in his Answer to Job (1952)

demonstrating in-depth knowledge of scholarly sources and Bible commentaries.

For instance, in his Psychological Types (1921), besides quoting a verse, Jung also

mentions Jewish scholars and makes reference to "mystical interpretations." He also quotes the

esoteric traditions of Adam and Lilith and comments that this tradition “as of very late”

appearance. This is a significant comment since is a reference to the book mystical book of

Zohar. The Zohar, according to secular scholars, was written in the 12th century C.E, and

therefore it is regarded as a late tradition by secular scholars compared to the Bible text which

was established long before the first century C.E.

Jewish mystical concepts from the works of Rabbi Chaim Vital Kabbalistic writings are

mentioned more explicitly in Jung’s personal letters (Jung, 1973). There are references, by name,

of second century C.E Kabbalistic rabbi and his teachings in Memories, Dreams, Reflections

(1962) as well as the Kabbalistic doctrine of sephiroth (emanations).

In his Der Sinn des Lebens (1933), Adler states that social interest was the primal energy

that established regulative religious activities and that the idea of God corresponds to the human

yearning for perfection. He admitted that there is an element of metaphysics in his psychological

approach called Individual Psychology. Similarly, when discussing the birth order and the roles

of the second child and the youngest child he quotes from the Bible account of Joseph and his

brothers and the account of Jacob and Esau as examples of his theory. Cain’s account is quoted

as an example of wrong as opposing to the goal of universal welfare. He therefore praises the

Bible and other ancient texts as showing brilliant understanding of human nature.
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 13

Adler states that “we the descendants of our great forefathers are alive thanks to the great

achievements that they did and their great social thought expressed in religions and political

systems (Adler, 1933).” This is a reference to his Jewish ancestors and how the Hebrew patriarch

have such an importance as central pillar of Yiddishkeit. Adler also states that Freud’s

introduction of the id, libido, and the superego were reminiscent to Hell and Heaven because of

the shared sense of guilt from the language used in Genesis regarding the original sin.

Erikson quotes from the Babylonian Talmud regarding the Golden rule (Hoare, 2002).

Erikson also discussed Jewish European identity in his works (Erikson, 1950), and he expounded

upon Freudian theory as interpreted by Ana Freud who was Erikson’s teacher. Erickson is

reported, later on, to have commented about the “Jewish elements of psychoanalysis” (Coles,

1970) and their importance in order to understand the key concepts of psychoanalysis.

In Jewish religious classics and previous to 20th century works many references to the

composition of the psyche can be found such as in the writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital and Rabbi

Schneur Zalman Borukhovich. Similar concepts to the idea of pleasure principle, instinct, and

libido can be found in early rabbinical works such as Avoth d’Rabbi Nathan and the Babylonian

Talmud. Human development is also discussed in early Jewish works such as the Mishnah and

Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabba. References to the normative periods of breastfeeding, toilet

training, schooling age, and puberty are discussed in the Babylonian Talmud, Shulchan Aruch,

Rabbi Chaim Vital’s writings and early 19thcentury C.E. rabbinic responsa.
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 14

These findings seem to support this author’s hypothesis of a strong correlation and

parallelism between core theoretical points of psychoanalysis. These data pile up highly in the

case of Freud and Jung and to a much lesser degree in the case of Adler and Erickson.

Discussion

In the case of Freud, the discussion will focus on his theory for psyche division and his

psychosexual stages of development while considering all other aspects of his theory. Freudian

division of the psyche into three parts as explained above is difficult to justify solely from raw

case studies as the ones that he used to develop his theories. These three parts resemble the

nephesh that Judaism speaks about. It should be noted in Hebrew the word nephesh which is

commonly translated as soul, can also have different meanings depending of the context such as

life, person, and mental process (Genesius, 1846).

For instance, Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote in Etz Chaim 50:2 and Sha'ar haKedushah that

man whether righteous or wicked, has two souls. In other sources such as Tanya, these two souls

are called nephesh habahamith (animal soul) and nephesh haelohith (divine soul). In this work

also Nogah is discussed as the intermediate kelipah, or state of being, that lies between the pure

and the impure and acts as middle ground that can be dragged into the sitra d’kedushah (holiness)

or to the sitra achra (“other side”, evil) by our actions (Borukhovich, 1796).

From this Nogah emerges the nephesh hasichlith (intellectual soul) whose job is to

explain the divine principles to the nephesh habahamith and drag it towards holiness

(Schneersohn, 1940), this nephesh hasichlith was discussed by ancient sources such as Jewish
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 15

philosophers and kabbalists which while disagreeing in the details but stated that the human has

three components or humans have three souls (Pinson, 1999).

Freud (1920) also explains that the id follows the pleasure principle. Similar ideas were

expressed before regarding the nature of the nephesh habahamith as it is found in hasidic sources:

The animal soul is not truly evil; rather it is a soul that contains inclinations and

desires without any necessary goal or specification. This means that the animal soul

is not inborn with a desire for only, and specifically physical, and worldly pleasures

and acts of evil, but rather for any pleasure of any form. Thus, just as one is able to

use his animal soul to desire evil, similarly it can also be used to desire good and gain

a passion to cleave to God (Borukhovich, 1848, Chukath 56).

Freud (1923) explained that libido is mainly repressed in the id. Sexuality is also linked

in Jewish sources to the yetzer hara which although no identical to the nephesh habahamith it is

analogous (Borukhovich, 1848, Miketz 38b). This concept is discussed in Babylonian Talmud:

[The Men of the Great Assembly] ordered a fast for three days and three nights, after

which Evil Inclination was surrendered to them. Evil Inclination came out from the

Holy of Holies as a fiery lion cub. Thereupon seeing it, the Prophet said to Israel: “This

is the evil inclination for idolatry”, as it is stated: And he said: “This is the Evil one.”

As they seized it a hair slipped from its mane, and [the fiery cub] raised its voice in a

mighty roar, whose sound went out for an area of four hundred parsaos. They said to

the Prophet: “What shall we do.” Perhaps, God forbid, Heaven will have mercy on it.”

The Prophet replied: “Cast [the fiery cub] into a leaden cauldron, and cover the opening
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 16

with lead for lead absorbs sound,” as it is stated: “And he said: This is the Evil One.

And he cast it into the ephah, and he cast the lead stone on its mouth.” They then said:

“Since this is now a time of Divine favor, as God has granted our request to remove the

urge of idolatry, let us pray for Evil Inclination for immorality to be subdued before us.”

They prayed and it, too, was delivered into their hands. Whereupon the Evil Inclination

said to them: “See that if you kill me, the world will become desolated.” They

imprisoned it for three days. During this time they sought a freshly laid egg throughout

land of Israel and it was not found. They were in a quandary and said: “What shall we

do? Shall we kill it? The world will become desolated. Shall we pray that half of the

inclination be subdued?” Heaven does not grant a half. Therefore, they blinded it eyes

and then released it, and this blinding of the eyes accomplished that a

man does not become aroused by it to sin with his relatives (Yoma 69b).

The yetzer hara in this passage involves more than evil or selfish impulses. It involves

desire for idolatry and includes the libido as the passage says that the evil inclination has

forbidden relationships such as incest as one of its drives. Idolatry in ancient times was linked to

sexual activity and involved sexual acts as described in the Bible account, Ancient Egypt

practices such as sacred prostitution.

Freud (1920) stated that the main psychic energy of the id, excluding Tanathos, is the

libido or Eros. He further theorized that there is a sexual root to most psychosis and desires.

Kabbalistic teachings as expounded by Vital (1660) also state that the root of all sins can be

traced to a sexual component. This is so since the original sin also had a sexual component by
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 17

Eve and the primeval snake having sexual relationships (Wisnefsky, 2008). This corresponds to

the Freudian Eros as the main psychic energy. Moreover, note the Biblical teaching that the

original sin brought death and killing instinct to mankind as in the story of Abel and Cain in the

Genesis which parallels Freudian Tanathos.

Freud (1940) also explained that the id is present since birth and the ego and superego

only develop later in the oral (1-3 years) and at the end of the phallic state (5 years old)

respectively. Similarly, the third century C.E Avoth d’Rabbi Nathan 16 explains that the yetzer

hara (bad inclination) is within the child as soon as he is born. It also stated that the yetzer hatov

(good inclination) which is related to the nephesh haelohith is not completely inside the person

until the child reaches 13 years old.

Moreover, all these correspondences between Freud and Jewish doctrine can be put

together as follows: The id is the nephesh habahamith, the ego is the nephesh hasichlith and the

superego is the nephesh elohith. Similar but slightly different conclusions have been briefly

presented in a previous study (Wasserman, 2004), but it represents a poor elaboration, shallow

analysis and lack of deep knowledge of Hasidic and Kabbalistic theology as it fails to relate all

the three Freudian divisions with Jewish doctrine and wrongly classifies ego as nephesh

haelohith without further explanation.

Alternatively, other attempts have been done using the “Tree of life” or sephiroth

relationship among themselves to relate the kabbalistic doctrine with Freud’s psyche theory

(Halevi, 1992) with neither much clarity nor scholarly approach. Sephiroth and partzufim
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 18

(personae, archetypes) are archetypes of the mind that are better discussed within the frame of

Jungian analytical psychology.

Regarding human development as expressed by Freud psychosexual stages and Erikson

adaptation into eight stages and eight virtues, there are a few Jewish sources that also discuss it.

For example, in the Mishnah from the second century C.E. presents the following schema for 14

stages human development, which first focuses in tasks but interestingly later focuses on virtues

or qualities which are incorporated by Erikson to development:

He would say: “(1) At five to Scripture, (2) ten to Mishnah, (3) thirteen to

religious duties, (4) fifteen to Talmud, (5) eighteen to the wedding canopy, (6)

twenty to responsibility for providing for a family, (7) thirty to fullness of

strength, (8) forty to understanding, (9) fifty to counsel, (10) sixty to old age,

(11) seventy to ripe old age, (12) eighty to remarkable strength, (13) ninety to

a bowed back, and (14) at a hundred- he is like a corpse who has already

passed and gone from this world.” (Pirkei Avoth 5:22, Neusner, 1991)

(Parenthesis found in the translation).

Similarly, a post-Talmudic works called Ecclesiastes Rabbah also comments in chapter

1:2 of the Book of Ecclesiastes about human development. Human development is depicted as

involving seven “worlds” or stages. This work was translated into German in the late 19th

century C.E. (Wünsche, 1880), it states:

“Futility of futilities, said Kohelet, futility of futilities! All is futile.” The seven

‘futilities that Kohelet said parallel seven worlds that man goes through. [The
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 19

first world] at the age one, he is like a King, carried around in canopied chair,

asked by everyone how he is, kissed, and hugged by all. [The second world]

ages two and three, he is like a pig, his hands touching all types of filth and

excrement. [The third world] at the age of ten, he jumps like a goat [always

playful]. [The fourth world] age twenty, he is like a young stallion, neighing

loudly and looking for a mate. [The fifth world] until age forty, he marries a

woman and is like a mule, constantly procreating and working diligently to

make a living, carrying in his back responsibility of family. [The sixth world]

he has many children and the responsibility of providing for them makes him

act, at times, like a dog, barking and wondering from where will come money

and food. [The seventh world] he is now old and like a monkey, his

physiognomy has changed, he is constantly asking questions, reverts back to

playing like a child, is made fun by his children and other family members,

cursed and hated. (Translation by Berke, J. H. & Schneider, S.; 2008. Brackets

found in the translation).

It is interesting noting the mention of kissing and hugging for the first years of life, then

the focus on feces and defecation which corresponds to anal stage in Freudian model, and

references to play until age 10, and sexual urge until age 20 corresponding to Latent and Genital

stage.

Certain aspects of development are discussed in the Babylonian Talmud in Kethuboth 60a,

where it limits child breastfeeding to 24 months and in exceptional cases up to five years old but
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 20

no longer. Moreover, at the age of three years old there is an ancient Jewish custom called

Upsherin in which first haircut is given to baby boys (Vital, 1660, Sha’ar Hakavanoth, section

12, Inyan HaPesach). That age is the start of schooling and training in religious activities such as

wearing yarmulke, wearing tzitzith (ritual fringes) provided that they are toilet trained, and others

according to the child cognitive development (Margolioth, 1820). Children officially arrive at

adulthood at the Bar/Bat mitzvah ceremony. This ceremony takes places in traditional

communities at the age of 13 for boys and 12 for girls provided that two adult pubic hairs have

grown from the body (Caro, 1565, Orach Chaim 55:5) which is linked to certain degree of sexual

maturity of puberty.

Circumstantial factors and family background also support the hypothesis as elaborated

by Klein (1985) and Berke (2015). Freud publicly denied having any knowledge of Hebrew,

Yiddish or Judaism but in a personal letter to his Jewish associated Abraham (1908:36) he wrote

that, “some days ago small paragraph of the Jokes strangely attracted me. When I looked at it

more closely, I found that, in the technique of apposition and its full structure, it was completely

Talmudic.” Moreover, he shows knowledge of Yiddish in his The Interpretation of Dreams

(1899, 1913, chapter VI, case II) and he reports having a dream in which one of the persons

spoke in Yiddish and he understands it. Yiddish is known as being the mother tongue of his

mother. Bakan (1958) provided substantial proof of strong correlation between Freudian

interpretation of dreams and certain parts of sexual theory with Kabbalah.

Freud denied having any knowledge of mysticism (Jones, 1955) which may be due to his

self-constructed ego of being an enlightened Jew as purely rationalistic. Nonetheless, it is well

known that he had books on Kabbalah in his personal library and he ordered a German
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 21

translation of the writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital (Bakan, 1958). Anti-Semitism in the Between

Wars Period in Europe was rampant and was one of Freud’s concerns for inviting non-Jewish

members such as Jung into his circle of students and associates as well as the Bnai Brith Jewish

enlightenment organization (Klein, 1981 & 1985).

Regarding Jung, his mention of Lilith in his works could be attributed by some people to

Goethe (1808). Nevertheless, Goethe’s short mention of Lilith does not state when this tradition

regarding a pre-Eve wife of Adam appeared and Lilith name is used shortly in the context of

Goethe’s poetry. For Jung to have mentioned that Lilith’s story was a late tradition, he should

have gotten to know it from other sources such as the Zohar since the Talmudic reference from

the fifth century C.E. cannot be regarded as a late source.

Jung’s knowledge of alchemy and Kabbalah could very well have come from the works

of Gershom Scholem such as Alchemie und Kabbala: Ein Kapitelaus der Geschichte der Mystik

published in 1925. It is known that Jung and Scholem were at least acquaintances (Jaffe, 1971).

Jung mentioned a very central doctrine of Kabbala as he experimented it in a dream:

I myself was, so it seemed, in the Pardes Rimonim, the garden of

pomegranates, and the wedding of Tifereth with Malchuth was taking place. Or

else I was Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, whose weeding in the afterlife was being

celebrated. I was a mystic marriage as it appears in Cabbalistic traditions [sic]. I

cannot tell you how wonderful it was. I could only think continually, “Now this is

the garden of pomegranates! Now this is the marriage of Malchuth with Tifereth!”

I do not know exactly what part I played in it. At bottom it was I myself: I was the
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 22

marriage. And my beatitude was that of a blissful wedding (Jung& Jaffe, 1962).

Jung’s reference to Malchuth and Tifereth refers to the mystical union between the male

and the female components of the sephiroth which are archetypes in the depths of the psyche. As

noted in Kabbalah each person has a male and female component inside with different degree of

influence depending on gender as it can be seen in figure 1. This idea was introduced in

psychology by Jung (1968) in the form of anima and animus. Jung (1938) also developed the

concept of the Shadow as an archetype which has been discussed above regarding the nephesh

habahamith.

Figure 1. Sephiroth as applied to human psyche.

(Dubov, 2005)
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 23

As explained above about the 10 sephiroth inside the psyche and the spiritual part of the

person, it needs to be mentioned that besides the 10 sephiroth of goodness there are 10 sephiroth

of the sitra achra. These sitra achra archetypes have intellectual and an emotional part and

influence the person in an archetype style battle between the nephesh habahamith under the 10

sephiroth of sitra achra and the nephesh haelohith and the 10 sephiroth d’kedushah

(Borukhovich, 1796).

Biographical data show that Jung made a trip to what is now the modern state of Israel in

1932 which is reported to have had a great impact on him. The amount of Jewish material

greatly increased in his writing afterwards which shows a deeper knowledge of Judaism. Jung

was also known to have close relationships with Jewish leaders such as Rabbi Leo Baeck (Jaffe,

1971). In his 80th birthday interview he explained that his entire psychology was anticipated by

the Maggid of Mezeritch, in the late 18th century C.E (McGuire & Hull, 1977). Jung’s

knowledge of Kabbalah most likely came through secondary sources such as works on Alchemy

and Rosenroth’s (1677) Latin translation of the Zohar and other texts (Drob, 2001).

Regarding Erikson, he studied under Anna Freud’s mentorship, and he received much

influence from her interpretations of Freudian psychoanalytic method. He is known to have

grown up as Jewish and that his stepfather was an active Jewish worshipper (Langsman, 1998).

While his direct references to Jewish writings are few but his elaboration of Freud’s

psychosexual stages of development does seem resemble the above quote of Ecclesiastes Rabba.

Erikson showed ability to elaborate in Jewish teachings, he quoted the Babylonian Talmud:
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 24

On one occasion there was a goy [non-Jewish person] who came to Shammai, and

requested: "Make me a Jew on the condition that you teach me the all the Torah

[Jewish teachings] while I am standing on one foot.” Shammai turned him away

with the rod he had in his hand. Later on, the same person went to Hillel, and he

accepted him, saying: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to others, this is all

Torah while the rest is commentary, go and learn it” [Babylonian Talmud,

Shabbat 31a. Brackets added].

Erikson notes that the passage does not say “go and act” but it says “go and learn it,”

which emphases the need to learn ethics constantly throughout adulthood (Hoare, 2002). This

concept is reflected in this eight stages development theory that consists in resolving and

learning how to overcome different crisis that the individual goes through in life.

Regarding Adler it can be seem that Bible themes are not strange to his works. According

to his biography Adler became a Christian in his adult life due to anti-Semitism and the

popularity among Jews “enlightened” in European late 19th and early 20th centuries. These Bible

themes are quite common and popular among Christian even down to modern times and do not

supposed any special knowledge or scholarship.

Similarly, while his teaching show a lot of compatibility with the belief in God, but there

is little support to maintain that Adler’s individual psychology got strong influences and has

strong correspondence with his Jewish heritage. These references could be explained as general

culture and Bible story knowledge that was much more common at that time due to higher level

of religiosity in European pre-Great War society (1914-1919).

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 25

Conclusions

This essay has brought up archival research and secondary sources that indicate strong

correlation and correspondence in time frame and development of central ideas of psychoanalytic

and psychodynamic approaches especially in the case of Freud, Jung and Erikson. Adler’s

individual psychology does not show this direct correlation.

This research has several limitations. It is limited by time since the thesis needs to be

presented within the 6th intake of the year 2016. Although the author started many months in

advance to collect data and purchase necessary material but still time was a serious constraint

due to the large and vast amount of literature from different fields such as psychology, history,

and Judaism. Another limitation is research resources. Many of the original works are in German

and Rabbinical Hebrew which the author does not fully understand and therefore there is the

need to rely in translations.

In a similar vein, many works in Kabbalah are neither fully published nor accessible to

the public which might have left important data uncollected. There are textual proofs that many

Kabbalistic works were not preserved down to present times due to the Pogroms and anti-

Semitism was rampant during long periods of time up to our days. In order to make up for these

limitations this thesis has collected plenty of secondary data which is used in the discussion part

of the thesis that enrich and deepen the analysis and the understanding of the data at hand.

It is recommended that psychology teachers whether at high schools or above become

knowledgeable of the background and connections of psychoanalytic approach to the authors in

order to better understand the concepts and be able to teach them in a deeper and more accurate
PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 26

way. Governmental curriculum regulators should allot time during psychology classes to explain

more of the background of the theories in psychology and other fields to bring students

understanding to a higher level. This could be done either by a specific subject in degree

programs or insertion into general psychology class.

In a similar vein, translations and layman explanation of more Kabbalistic and Hasidic

writings which are now only available in Hebrew or ancient Aramaic which are now widely

spoken in the academic community and limits research. This will serve to make up for some of

the limitations of this present study and to increase public awareness in the academic and general

public.

Finally, further research into holistic psychological approaches, religious teaching, and

spirituality is recommended in order to help to tackle some of the psychological and sociological

needs that modern complex society has. Better treatments, therapies and minimum side effects

could be achieved when holistic factors and therapy collateral effects in other areas of the

individual are taken into consideration.

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND JUDAISM 27

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