1 year ago
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Picture of the Week: Mottel is a Daddy Edition
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Weird Sign Wednesday VXII
Friday, May 21, 2010
Picture of the Week 102
A picture taken at the Laura Plantation - a Creole Plantation near New Orleans.
A good Shabbos to all!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Inner Happily Receiving the Torah
Or at least that's how Google translates קבלת התורה בשמחה ובפנימית - any how . . . working on some BIG posts וד"ל
As it's Erev Yom Tov though, enjoy this video of my friend met in Peru - Roei Sadan
crossing Europe video from roei sadan on Vimeo.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
On Freud's Jewish Identity, Psychoanalysis and the Chassidic Conquest
Spending an evening out on the town with my dear wife, I decided to crowd-source our evening's activities . . . of those that responded, one D.C. suggested that I check out a lecture on Freud’s Jewish Identity presented by Dr. Arnold D. Richards with Prof. Susannah Heschel at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.
After dinner, we did indeed go.
What follows is a collection of my thoughts and notes from the evening. I make no attempt to represent the complete opinions of those that spoke. I've made no attempt to check if my words hold water among academics, nor do I care to impress them . . . Rather what follows is a synthesis of ideas as they have occurred to me.
Richards (see his paper for a full discussion of the subject) seems to explore the essential dichotomy and/or duality of Freud's Jewish identity - as exemplified through Bildung, Antisemitism and (something that was mostly skipped due to lack of time) his atheism.
Freud, the child of Galician immigrants ("Psychoanalysis is a Galicianer science.") expressed an almost contradictory sense of pride in his Jewish roots and a shame of his Jewish, and especially Eastern European (Ostjuden), brethren. In an attempt to synthesize these two conflicting opinions, Freud re-imagined his lineage to that of Jews from Cologne (who, brought to the city by the Romans, preceded the Germanic tribes in the area), via Lithuania to Vienna.
He denied his ability to speak or read Hebrew and Yiddish, yet visited his mother, who primarily spoke Yiddish, every Sunday. He had a volume of the Talmud [I'm not sure which mesechta] with a German translation, as a gift from his father. Never truly at home as an Austrian or a Jew . . .
His work, Moses and Monotheism is in effect, a summation of Freud's own Jewish dilemma - he sets Moses, the father of all prophets - the quintessential Jew - as an Egyptian . . . Yet Moses in-turn gives rise to the forced veneer of Jewish morality via christianity - forced upon the essentially pagan Teutonic tribes.
Martin S. Bergmann spoke of the change that had occurred in the field of psychoanalysis in terms of its Jewish roots - in the past had anyone called Psychoanalysis a Jewish science, it would have been rooted in antisemitism. Freud's decision to anoint Carl Jung, the handsome non-Jew, as the heir to the throne of psychoanalysis was an attempt to remove the field from its Jewish roots - to make it more palpable to the German public. Perhaps, Bergmann theorized, psychoanalysis's Jewish roots stemmed from the attempt of its founders, who sought to understand the world through logic and science, to relate to the irrational and illogical hate of Antisemitism.
Another speaker thought to apply Bergmann's view of psychoanalysis as a logical attempt to comprehend the illogical hate - as perhaps a desire to remove themselves from the illogical nature of religion and instead view the human story by means of science . . . and there I see the ultimate failure of the cyclical nature of the discussion.
Susannah Heschel indeed noted the failure of the argument that psychoanalysis is an attempt to provide a logical framework that can replace the illogical nature of religion - for if so, then psychoanalysis has become the new dogma that we subjectively view man with - at which point it can no longer effectively replace the illogical G-d, for it itself has become illogical.
Heschel stems from Chassidic roots - and her stance seems to make it eminently clear. Psychoanalysis isn't the result of the chesbon hanefesh, as one suggested, or at least not the accounting of the soul as seen in light of the Mussar movement, but rather akin to the Chassidic Rebbes - who invested themselves into those who approached them. She seems to understand the third power that transcends both the logical and illogical.
Freud saw circumcision as an Egyptian act. Religion is fear, and circumcision is a symbolic substitute for castration. But Heschel sees the circumcision through its Jewish context - as a covenant - a physical reminder of our receiving the Torah from G-d. By the circumcision the Mohel performs metzitzah b'peh - akin to the kisses of the divine (Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine - Shir Hashirim), or the suckling of the child on the breast. It is not castration by G-d's anger, but rather his kiss of love.
As mentioned by D.C. during the question period (mirroring my own thoughts), the Bris in Chassidic terms, takes place on the eighth day, because it transcends the realm of time and nature - the seven days of the week. The child, who can not think and reason, who can make no decision about the meaning of the circumcision, is able to connect to the transcendent quality of the creator.
The early psychoanalysts failed to understand religion because they were trapped within the realm of logic. In an attempt to understand the world through the lens of logic, G-d may not fit into the frame. As mentioned by one of the questioners, Judaism has a long history of analyzing the Torah with the mind - yet in the eye of 'scientist' it remains inherently illogical since the ultimate source of the discussion, G-d, is sacrosanct.
However in the tradition of Chassidus Chabad, there is no contradiction between the rational study of an 'irrational' Creator - for the rational and irrational are part of the mortal coil. Just as there is a failure to understand Freud as a product of his background, if we are limited to describe him only with the vocabulary of his own subjective thought, if we try to find the relative merits of critical logic and religion, we remain trapped in cyclical discussion.
The Creator is not irrational, but rather suprarational. By trying to understand the Torah, a transcendent knowledge, then we allow our physical minds to bridge the gap of logic and what is beyond logic.
Though not overtly expressed by anyone - I found it ironic that some seemed to analyze Freud himself and his Jewish identity - in the light and context of psychoanalysis. It seems to expose the essentially cyclical and self-referential nature of psychoanalysis. We wish to analyze Freud's theories through the lens of Freud the man - yet we use the vocabulary of his thoughts to understand the background and society that created the man . . . A prisoner can not set himself free.
In an institution that worships on the alter of German and Austrian fields of thought, Richard's clearly Ostjude personality and vocabulary provide an almost ironic sense of the ultimate victory of the Eastern European, Chassidic, Jew.
In the past the NYPI would meet on Yom Kippur - in their attempt to flee to constraints of Jewish ritual and the shtetle, its members had in effect remained very much bound by their Jewish roots. Yet today, looking and listening to the crowd, I found only the faintest trace of German, even Judeo-German, culture . . .
Unlike Freud, who tried to hide, unsuccessfully, his Yiddish vocabulary and roots - these Jews were very much party of the cloth of the "Galician" story and scene.
I wonder what Freud would have said.
(Escher Image Credit - Archival Images from Life Photo Archive)
Edited May 13, 4:10 pm for clarification and proper image attribution
Technorati Tags: Psychoanalysis, Judaism, Freud, Thoughts, Essays, Life, Social Media, Crowd Sourcing
After dinner, we did indeed go.
What follows is a collection of my thoughts and notes from the evening. I make no attempt to represent the complete opinions of those that spoke. I've made no attempt to check if my words hold water among academics, nor do I care to impress them . . . Rather what follows is a synthesis of ideas as they have occurred to me.
Richards (see his paper for a full discussion of the subject) seems to explore the essential dichotomy and/or duality of Freud's Jewish identity - as exemplified through Bildung, Antisemitism and (something that was mostly skipped due to lack of time) his atheism.
Freud, the child of Galician immigrants ("Psychoanalysis is a Galicianer science.") expressed an almost contradictory sense of pride in his Jewish roots and a shame of his Jewish, and especially Eastern European (Ostjuden), brethren. In an attempt to synthesize these two conflicting opinions, Freud re-imagined his lineage to that of Jews from Cologne (who, brought to the city by the Romans, preceded the Germanic tribes in the area), via Lithuania to Vienna.He denied his ability to speak or read Hebrew and Yiddish, yet visited his mother, who primarily spoke Yiddish, every Sunday. He had a volume of the Talmud [I'm not sure which mesechta] with a German translation, as a gift from his father. Never truly at home as an Austrian or a Jew . . .
His work, Moses and Monotheism is in effect, a summation of Freud's own Jewish dilemma - he sets Moses, the father of all prophets - the quintessential Jew - as an Egyptian . . . Yet Moses in-turn gives rise to the forced veneer of Jewish morality via christianity - forced upon the essentially pagan Teutonic tribes.
Martin S. Bergmann spoke of the change that had occurred in the field of psychoanalysis in terms of its Jewish roots - in the past had anyone called Psychoanalysis a Jewish science, it would have been rooted in antisemitism. Freud's decision to anoint Carl Jung, the handsome non-Jew, as the heir to the throne of psychoanalysis was an attempt to remove the field from its Jewish roots - to make it more palpable to the German public. Perhaps, Bergmann theorized, psychoanalysis's Jewish roots stemmed from the attempt of its founders, who sought to understand the world through logic and science, to relate to the irrational and illogical hate of Antisemitism.
Another speaker thought to apply Bergmann's view of psychoanalysis as a logical attempt to comprehend the illogical hate - as perhaps a desire to remove themselves from the illogical nature of religion and instead view the human story by means of science . . . and there I see the ultimate failure of the cyclical nature of the discussion.
Susannah Heschel indeed noted the failure of the argument that psychoanalysis is an attempt to provide a logical framework that can replace the illogical nature of religion - for if so, then psychoanalysis has become the new dogma that we subjectively view man with - at which point it can no longer effectively replace the illogical G-d, for it itself has become illogical.
Heschel stems from Chassidic roots - and her stance seems to make it eminently clear. Psychoanalysis isn't the result of the chesbon hanefesh, as one suggested, or at least not the accounting of the soul as seen in light of the Mussar movement, but rather akin to the Chassidic Rebbes - who invested themselves into those who approached them. She seems to understand the third power that transcends both the logical and illogical.
Freud saw circumcision as an Egyptian act. Religion is fear, and circumcision is a symbolic substitute for castration. But Heschel sees the circumcision through its Jewish context - as a covenant - a physical reminder of our receiving the Torah from G-d. By the circumcision the Mohel performs metzitzah b'peh - akin to the kisses of the divine (Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine - Shir Hashirim), or the suckling of the child on the breast. It is not castration by G-d's anger, but rather his kiss of love.
As mentioned by D.C. during the question period (mirroring my own thoughts), the Bris in Chassidic terms, takes place on the eighth day, because it transcends the realm of time and nature - the seven days of the week. The child, who can not think and reason, who can make no decision about the meaning of the circumcision, is able to connect to the transcendent quality of the creator.
The early psychoanalysts failed to understand religion because they were trapped within the realm of logic. In an attempt to understand the world through the lens of logic, G-d may not fit into the frame. As mentioned by one of the questioners, Judaism has a long history of analyzing the Torah with the mind - yet in the eye of 'scientist' it remains inherently illogical since the ultimate source of the discussion, G-d, is sacrosanct.
However in the tradition of Chassidus Chabad, there is no contradiction between the rational study of an 'irrational' Creator - for the rational and irrational are part of the mortal coil. Just as there is a failure to understand Freud as a product of his background, if we are limited to describe him only with the vocabulary of his own subjective thought, if we try to find the relative merits of critical logic and religion, we remain trapped in cyclical discussion.
The Creator is not irrational, but rather suprarational. By trying to understand the Torah, a transcendent knowledge, then we allow our physical minds to bridge the gap of logic and what is beyond logic.
Though not overtly expressed by anyone - I found it ironic that some seemed to analyze Freud himself and his Jewish identity - in the light and context of psychoanalysis. It seems to expose the essentially cyclical and self-referential nature of psychoanalysis. We wish to analyze Freud's theories through the lens of Freud the man - yet we use the vocabulary of his thoughts to understand the background and society that created the man . . . A prisoner can not set himself free.
In an institution that worships on the alter of German and Austrian fields of thought, Richard's clearly Ostjude personality and vocabulary provide an almost ironic sense of the ultimate victory of the Eastern European, Chassidic, Jew.
In the past the NYPI would meet on Yom Kippur - in their attempt to flee to constraints of Jewish ritual and the shtetle, its members had in effect remained very much bound by their Jewish roots. Yet today, looking and listening to the crowd, I found only the faintest trace of German, even Judeo-German, culture . . .
Unlike Freud, who tried to hide, unsuccessfully, his Yiddish vocabulary and roots - these Jews were very much party of the cloth of the "Galician" story and scene.
I wonder what Freud would have said.
(Escher Image Credit - Archival Images from Life Photo Archive)
Edited May 13, 4:10 pm for clarification and proper image attribution
Technorati Tags: Psychoanalysis, Judaism, Freud, Thoughts, Essays, Life, Social Media, Crowd Sourcing
Weird Sign Wednesday XVI
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Friday, May 07, 2010
Mottel and the Big Easy - Part I
Of Social Media and Bourbon Street
It's been awhile since I posted a true scale Travel Post on this blog . . . which is odd - because Letters of Thought was conceived as in Vilna and started in Venice as a travelogue.
But the wait is over my friends . . . instead of a Picture of the Week, I give you 20 of them -
Part One of Mottel in the Big Easy: Of Social Media and Bourbon Street.
Click on the link to enjoy!
It's been awhile since I posted a true scale Travel Post on this blog . . . which is odd - because Letters of Thought was conceived as in Vilna and started in Venice as a travelogue.
But the wait is over my friends . . . instead of a Picture of the Week, I give you 20 of them -
Part One of Mottel in the Big Easy: Of Social Media and Bourbon Street.
Click on the link to enjoy!
A week after Purim in LA, Chana and I were flown out, so that I could speak at a Jewish youth program in New Orleans on Social Media and Judaism.
Landing Thursday night, we went to the National World War II museum. Why of all places the countries WWII museum is New Orleans - I'm not entirely sure . . . but it's an amazing museum!
Unfortunately my pictures of the museum were somehow lost while transferring from my netbook to my trusty laptop . . . sigh. If they show up, I'll put them in their own post.
A Street Car
Architecture along S. Charles st.
Rocking chairs in front of the ShotGun house we stayed in (good friends of Chana - thank you so much!)
On Sunday we went down to Metairie to speak at the Bagrut program.
I spoke of Judaism and technology - and how we could use it for world good.
And then we hit the old city . . .
Music was everywhere . . . and the photos seemed to take themselves!
Two very interestingly dressed dudes . . . no idea where they're from.
I love this shot
Kiddushin 33a: Kamah harpatki adu alayhu d'hani
There were bikes everywhere . . .
The Big Easy and Bourbon street
Classic New Orleans architecture
Two men with their books
This band just looked so cool
I managed to shoot this one from the hip - he was looking right at me, and I wanted the image to be candid
The old blends with the new
This Guy wanted money for the picture - only had a few cents on me . . . So I suppose it was worth it.
Technorati Tags: Travel, New Orleans, Bourbon Street, Photography, Social Media, Judaism, Music
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Weird Sign Wednesday XV - Pashkville Edition
I'm putting the finishing touches on the first New Orleans post . . . until then - enjoy another Weird Sign Wednesday
Kolel has a policy - they let any pashkville float around the place - only letters about shlichus opportunities get ripped up . . . but I digress
Erev Shabbos I saw this lovely letter written by "One of Anash [i.e. a Lubavitcher]" decrying Hatzalah of Crown Height's policy of driving back from the hospital themselves on Shabbos - as opposed to being driven back by a non-Jew - a policy, claimed by the letter, to be practiced in the holy communities of Williamsburg, London, Boro Park, Antwerp and Monsey.
This pashkville goes on to complain that in Crown Heights we act like the "Moderne" - something clearly against the will of the Rabbis of Crown Heights.
No I'm not familiar with the particulars of the Halachos here . . . I'm sure hatzalah here has rabbonim they consult.
Which is what bothers me here . . . picking on people who go out on a limb to help others is wrong. Coming into a community that isn't yours? Epic Fail.
How do we know this pashkville wasn't written by a Lubavitcher?
- Who in Lubavitch writes a pashkville in Yiddish?
- If someone did . . . they wouldn't write it in a Poilisher Yiddish
Technorati Tags: Weirs Signs, Humor, Rants, Crown Heights, Judaism, Yiddish, Chabad, Chagas
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