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try to proj ec t an image o f himsel f as having been raised in a fa mil y with
minimum J ewi sh o bserva nce and sca nt J ewi sh edu ca ti o n - all essentially
nontruths? Ye ru shalmi fo ll ows a sli ghtl y diffe re nt paper trail than d oes
Rice; as he sees it, Freud was bo th Godless and a J ew:
a combin ati o n . . m:.lIl y others th en and now co uld no t fa th om
In th e turbulent process o f soc ial and cultural change th at accompa–
ni ed the H askal ah (th e J eWIsh Enli g htenme nt), th e re em erged th at
modern spec ies of "gottlose r jude" w ho m we know as " th e sec ular
j ew."
Yerushalmi observes how Freud stubbo rnl y insisted
on defi ning h imsel f " via
1I1:!.?llliollis,"'
by a sen es of redu ctio ns. H e is no t
a j ew by reli gio n , o r in nation al te rms, o r thro ugh language ... an d
yet in some profoun d se nse he re nl3 in s a j ew.
At eve l), turn arc
hints and ti·agm e nts th at ch all e nge th e images Freud publi cly pro –
jected .
Beyo nd an y d eta il , th e
v cry
vio len ce of Fre ud 's reco il
aga inst j ewish re li gio us beli ef and ritu al mu st aro use
o ur
d eepest sus–
pIcIo n.
Both Ri ce and Ycrushalmi m ake a strong argument th at had
Moscs
alld
MOII Or/l eislI l
no t bee n penn ed by Freud , it w o uld have been igno red
and di smissed. Uased o n o utdated and lo ng-disc redited Uible scho larship ,
it is, as Ri ce no tes , " hi ghl y fl awed in data se le cti o n , meth o do logy and
validati on ." Ye ru shalmi 's obsess io n w ith thi s o paq ue M oses book (hi s
own
Frclld 's Moses
too k him nin e yea rs to w rite ) eli cits some impo rtant
questi ons, to w hi ch he p ro poses answers th at arc bo th bo ldl y o ri ginal and
daring. [n the fo urth secti o n of Ye ru shalmi 's book , entitl ed "M o no logue
with Freud ," he direc tl y addresses " most hi g hl y es teemed Professor
Freud" :
I thi nk that in yo ur illn enll ost hea rt you beli eved th at psyc hoa nalys is
is itse lf a ti.mher, if not till al, lII etamo rph osed ex te nsio n of judaism ,
divested o f its illu so ry re li g io us forllls but retai ni ng its esse nti al
monoth eisti c characteristics, at least as you und erstood and desc ribed
them. In short, I th ink yo u be li eved tlld t j ust as yo u we re a godless
Jew, psychoa nalysis is
:1
godless juda ism .
Yerushalmi fecls th at
as
an hi stori ca l essay,
j\!loses allri MOll olheislII
o ffe rs
