Freud's "Moses" Judaism Terminable and Interminable Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi

This remarkable book provides fascinating new insights into Freud's intentions in writing Moses and Monotheism-his only work specifically devoted to a Jewish theme. Yerushalmi presents the work as Freud's psychoanalytic history of the Jews, Judaism, and the Jewish psyche-his attempt, under the shadow of Nazism, to discover what has made the Jews what they are. In the process, Yerushalmi's eloquent and sensitive exploration of Freud's controversial final work provides a reappraisal of Freud's feelings toward his own Judaism. "Yerushalmi has written a dazzlingly brilliant book. Reading it is to take an exciting journey through the spaces of mind-an adventure of intellect. This book is an extraordinary achievement, one that will be discussed and debated for many years."-Irving Howe