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This paper examines the influence of Judaism upon Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic project. The wealth of material on Judaism in Freud's letters and published papers warrants a thorough examination of his thoughts on Jewish narrative and Jewish tradition. Freud (1930b) explicitly invited posterity to conduct such an analysis when, in the preface to the Hebrew translation of Totem and Taboo, he wrote:
No reader of this book will find it easy to put himself in the emotional position of an author who … is completely estranged from the religion of his fathers—as well as from every other religion,… but who has never repudiated his people, who feels that he is in his essential nature a Jew
Mr. Blatt received the B.A. degree from Yale College in 1985 and the J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 1988.
The author is indebted to his teachers, Professors Harold Bloom, Leslie Brisman, George Mahl, and David Ruderman, who guided his explorations of Freud and Judaica, and to Judge Alvin B. Rubin for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Most of all, the author thanks his parents who introduced him to psychoanalytic theory and Judaism, and made them virtually indistinguishable parts of his life.
Page 639and who has no desire to alter that nature. If the question were put to him: “Since you have abandoned all these common characteristics of your countrymen, what is there left to you that is Jewish?” he would reply: “A very great deal, and probably its very essence.” He could not now express that essence clearly in words; but some day, no doubt, it will become accessible to the scientific mind [p. xi].
Freud's admission that he was “completely estranged” from Judaism and, yet, somehow remained “essentially” Jewish enjoins us to investigate this aspect of his life. That Freud could feel the prominence of his Jewish past, but not lucidly enough to give it expression, demonstrates that he possessed a strong identification with Judaism which he could not fully comprehend. In contrast