Freud's Meeting with Rabbi Alexandre Safran

Abstract

Sigmund Freud went to considerable effort to disguise his knowledge of the Hebrew language and Jewish primary sources. In this way he tried to prevent his new creation, psychoanalysis, from being seen as a ‘Jewish science’. The authors present new evidence that Freud had a considerable interest in, and knowledge of, Jewish religious texts. This is shown in an exchange of letters which have recently come to light, between the Los Angeles psychoanalyst, Dr Samuel Eisenstein, and the prominent Kabbalist and Chief Rabbi of Geneva, Rabbi Dr Alexandre Safran, which discuss a meeting that took place at Freud's request at his home in Vienna in 1934.