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The Hidden Freud: His Hassidic Roots

Author(s) : Joseph H. Berke

Reviews and Endorsements

‘This is a virtuoso performance that consults obscure texts, and re-reads familiar ones. That the practice of psychoanalysis may resemble the mystical contemplations of the religious does not diminish psychoanalysis, nor idolise mysticism. It merely locates important developments in our culture within their proper contexts. But it is the living history of the way our cultural ideas and attitudes grow and bear fruit. This is a book that searches at the heart of the fruitfulness of psychoanalysis.’
— Professor R. D. Hinshelwood, University of Essex

‘The relationship between psychoanalysis and Judaism has long been a topic of controversy. Freud was an atheist and rationalist, yet clearly maintained his Jewish identity. In this ground-breaking book, Joseph Berke retraces the paradoxical visions of Freud and other psychoanalysts, to show how closely their perspectives relate to Jewish mystical concepts. Dr Berke demonstrates both the striking parallels between psychoanalysis and the Jewish mystical tradition, and how each contributes to a psychological and spiritual process of reparation and healing.’
— Stephen Frosh, Professor of Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London

‘A thrilling work uniting rigorous scholarship with profound care and devotion. It compellingly investigates the intertwining of Jewish mysticism and psychoanalysis. Berke adroitly examines Freud’s life and relationships, and not only exhumes but brings to life a profound creative spirit. The Freud you meet here is not the Freud you might expect from watered down caricatures. What he tapped was too alive and real to fit into neat borders.’
— Michael Eigen, PhD, author of Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis, The Psychoanalytic Mystic, and Faith

‘Joseph Berke demonstrates brilliant insights into the depth of the human psyche, as well as the teachings of Chassidism and Kabbalah. This remarkable book helps one to appreciate the reach of Chassidism into general culture during the 20th Century.’
— Rabbi Shmuel Lew, Principal, Lubavitch Senior Girls’ School, London

‘This book offers a fascinating and thought-provoking tour through Freud’s Hassidic ancestry and an extraordinary but plausible discussion of his death on the Day of Atonement. It offers important challenges to overly simple perspectives on Freud’s relationship with his Jewishness and his spirituality.’
— Kate Miriam Loewenthal, Professor Emeritus, Royal Holloway, University of London

‘In this highly original book psychotherapy and cultural commentary overlap, as Berke discloses Freud’s carefully hidden Jewish self. This is not just a book about Freud, but also a subtle disclosure of the self-deceptions at the heart of western culture.’
— Naftali Loewenthal, Director, Chabad Research Unit; Adjunct Lecturer in Jewish Spirituality, Dept of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London

Read a review of this title in 'The Jewish Telegraph'

Read a review of this title in 'The Jewish Chronicle'