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This Feels Suspiciously Jewish To Me: Let's Play Jewish or Coincidence

Let's play a game.

We're going to look at some "Jewish" thinkers who thoughts on the surface are completely secular and argue about whether or not they were inspired by Jewish thought or even plagiarized Jewish thought.

Along the way we'll also deconstruct the Jewish identities of these composers and how they relate to us and the American Jewish experience.

Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, p. 64.
Describing the Ego

The functional importance of the ego is manifested in the fact that, normally, control over the approaches to mortality devolves upon it. Thus, in its relation to the id, [the ego] is like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse; with this difference, that the rider tries to do so with his own strength, while the ego uses borrowed forces. The analogy may be carried a little further. Often, a rider, if he is not to be parted from his horse, is obliged to guide [the horse] where it wants to go; so, in the same way, the ego is in the habit of transforming the id's will into action, as if it were its own.
Freud Describing the Id
It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learned from our study of the dreamwork, and, of course, the construction of neurotic symptoms and most of that is of a negative character, and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations. . . . It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle
Freud Describing the Super Ego
The ideals that contribute to the formation of the superego include not just the morals and values that we learn from our parents, but also the ideas of right and wrong that we acquire from society and the culture in which we live.
  • Does this sound strangely familiar?
אָתֵי בַּר נָשׁ לְאִתְדַּכָּאָה וּלְאִשְׁתַּדְּלָא בְּפִקּוּדֵי דְאוֹרַיְיתָא, הַהוּא יֵצֶר טוֹב דְּאִזְדַּוַּוג בֵּיהּ, כְּבָר אִיהוּ אִתְתַּקַּף עַל הַהוּא יֵצֶר הָרָע וְאִשְׁתָּלִים בַּהֲדֵיהּ וְאִתְהַפִּיךְ לֵיהּ לְעַבְדָא. וְכַד בַּר נָשׁ אָזִיל לְאִסְתַּאֲבָא, הַהוּא יֵצֶר הָרָע אִתְתַּקַּף וְאִתְגַּבַּר עַל הַהוּא יֵצֶר טוֹב, וְהָא אוֹקִימְנָא. וַדַּאי כַּד הַהוּא בַּר נָשׁ אָתֵי לְאִתְדַּכָּאָה, כַּמָּה תְּקִיפוּ אִתְתַּקַּף בַּר נָשׁ, כַּד אִתְגַּבְּרָא הַהוּא יֵצֶר טוֹב כְּדֵין (משלי ט״ז:ז׳) אוֹיְבָיו יַשְׁלִים אִתּוֹ, דְּהַהוּא יֵצֶר הָרָע אִתְכַּפְיָא קַמֵּיהּ דְּיֵצֶר טוֹב. וְעַל דָּא אָמַר שְׁלֹמֹה, (משלי י״ב:ט׳) טוֹב נִקְלֶה וְעֶבֶד לוֹ, מַאי וְעֶבֶד לוֹ, דָּא יֵצֶר הָרָע. וּכְדֵין כַּד אָזִיל בַּר נָשׁ בְּפִקּוּדֵי אוֹרַיְיתָא, כְּדֵין גַּם אוֹיְבָיו יַשְׁלִים אִתּוֹ, דָּא יֵצֶר הָרָע, וְדְאֲתָא מִסִּטְרוֹי.
When a man wishes to be purified and strives to observe the precepts of the Torah, the Good Inclination that joined him overpowers the Evil Inclination and makes peace with it. As a result, the Evil Inclination becomes a slave to the Good Inclination. When a man wishes to be defiled, the Evil Inclination is strengthened and overpowers the Good Inclination. This has already been explained. Assuredly, when man wishes to be purified, he has much to overcome. When the Good Inclination is strengthened, then "He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." For the Evil Inclination is submissive to the Good Inclination. Of this Solomon said, "Better is he that is lightly esteemed, and has a servant" (Mishlei 12:9). The servant is the Evil Inclination. Then, when a man walks by the precepts of the Torah, "he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him," including the Evil Inclination and its escorts.
Tanya Chapter 11 - The Average Man
The beinoni (“intermediate man”) is he in whom the evil of the animal soul never attains enough power to conquer the “small city” (i.e., the body, which is likened to a small city which the divine and animal soul both wish to dominate),
so as to clothe itself in the body and make it sin.
That is to say, the three “garments” of the animal soul—namely thought, speech, and action originating in the kelipah—(i.e., forbidden thought, speech, and action, which derive their vitality from kelipah, as explained in previous chapters) are, in the beinoni, so subdued that they
do not prevail within him over the divine soul to the extent of clothing themselves in the body
—(neither) in the brain (so that the brain thinks forbidden thoughts with the animal soul’s garment of thought) nor in the mouth (to speak forbidden words—the garment of speech) nor in any of the other 248 organs (to act in a forbidden manner—the garment of action)—in none of these do the garments of the animal soul clothe themselves to cause them to sin and to defile them, G‑d forbid (in which case he would be a rasha, not a beinoni).
Only the three garments of the divine soul, they alone manifest themselves in the body, these being the thought, speech, and action related to the 613 commandments of the Torah.
The beinoni has never committed any transgression, nor will he ever transgress;
the name “rasha” has never been applied to him, however temporarily, not even for a moment, throughout his life.
J.R. Halpern Discussing Freud's connection to Judaism in FREUD’S INTRAPSYCHIC USE OF THE JEWISH CULTURE
For instance, in his address to the Society of the B’nai B’rith he contended: “What bound me to Jewry was (I am ashamed to admit) neither faith nor national pride” (1 94 1 pp. 273-274). Similarly, in his preface to the Hebrew translation of Totem and Taboo (1934) he described himself as “an author who is ignorant of the language of the holy writ, who is completely estranged from the religion of his fathers-as well as from every other religion-and who cannot take a share in nationalist ideals, but who has never repudiated his people, who feels that he is in his essential nature a Jew and who has no desire to alter that nature.” He anticipates our question: “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.”
  • Do you think this is just a coincidence?
  • What do we think about Freud's Jewish identity? Do you think it's relatable?
A. Maslow A Theory of Motivation, 1943
Human needs arrange themselves in hierarchies of prepotency. That is to say, the appearance of one need usually rests on the prior satisfaction of another, more pre-potent need. Man is a perpetually wanting animal. Also no need or drive can be treated as if it were isolated or discrete; every drive is related to the state of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of other drives.
  • Does this sound strangely familiar?
(ט) וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה כֵּן אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ אֶל מֹשֶׁה מִקֹּצֶר רוּחַ וּמֵעֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה.

(9) And Moses spoke so unto the children of Israel; but they hearkened not unto Moses for impatience of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

(ב) "מקוצר רוח" - כל מי שהוא מיצר רוחו ונשימתו קצרה ואינו יכול להאריך בנשימתו

Impatience of spirit - anyone whose spirit is distressed, and whose breath is short, and cannot take deep breaths...

כַּוָּנַת הַלֵּב כֵּיצַד. כָּל תְּפִלָּה שֶׁאֵינָהּ בְּכַוָּנָה אֵינָהּ תְּפִלָּה. וְאִם הִתְפַּלֵּל בְּלֹא כַּוָּנָה חוֹזֵר וּמִתְפַּלֵּל בְּכַוָּנָה. מָצָא דַּעְתּוֹ מְשֻׁבֶּשֶׁת וְלִבּוֹ טָרוּד אָסוּר לוֹ לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עַד שֶׁתִּתְיַשֵּׁב דַּעְתּוֹ. לְפִיכָךְ הַבָּא מִן הַדֶּרֶךְ וְהוּא עָיֵף אוֹ מֵצֵר אָסוּר לוֹ לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עַד שֶׁתִּתְיַשֵּׁב דַּעְתּוֹ. אָמְרוּ חֲכָמִים יִשְׁהֶה שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים עַד שֶׁיָּנוּחַ וְתִתְקָרֵר דַּעְתּוֹ וְאַחַר כָּךְ יִתְפַּלֵּל:
Concentration of the mind—how is this condition [to be fulfilled?] Any prayer uttered without mental concentration is not prayer. If a service has been recited without such concentration, it must be recited again devoutly. A person finds that his thoughts are confused and his mind is distracted: He may not pray till he has recovered his mental composure. Hence, on returning from a journey or if one is weary or distressed, it is forbidden to pray till his mind is composed. The sages said that he should wait three days till he is rested and his mind is calm, and then he recites the prayers.
E. Hoffman, The Kabbalah: Its Implications for Humanistic Psychology, 1980
As for Judaism, Maslow drew mainly upon his Ashkenazi cultural background (both his parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe and he grew up fluent in Yiddish) in formulating his core values. In this respect, Maslow found Hasidism a compelling source of wisdom, especially as presented by Martin Buber’s stylistic renditions of Hasidic tales and I-Thou philosophy. For example, in an unpublished lecture in 1965 on self-actualization, Maslow said: “The best descriptive term I know {for the self-actualized person} is from the Jewish tradition involving the Hebrew language — a Tzaddik. A Tzaddik is one who… embodies both wisdom and pragmatism.” Maslow was also enamored of the traditional Judaic conception of the “saving remnant” — that humanity’s moral and spiritual advance depends largely on the efforts of a small coterie of enlightened, benevolent individuals. He often mused about this notion in his private journals.
  • Do we think it is a coincidence or a reach?
  • Maslow uses a Jewish example to describe his concept of self-actualization, do you find yourself often using Jewish examples to describe or relate to unrelated concepts?
Ged in a Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
“Light is a power. A great power, by which we exist, but which exists beyond our needs, in itself. Sunlight and starlight are time, and time is light. In the sunlight, in the days and years, life is. In a dark place life may call upon the light, naming it. But usually when you see a wizard name or call upon some thing, some object to appear, that is not the same, he calls upon no power greater than himself, and what appears is an illusion only. To summon a thing that is not there at all, to call it by speaking its true name, that is a great mastery, not lightly used. Not for mere hunger’s sake.
Orm Irian in The Other Sea by Ursula Le Guin
"Where," the Summoner said, "where is that land?" "On the other wind," said Irian. "The west beyond the west." She looked round at them all, scornful, irate. "Do you think we dragons fly only on the winds of this world? Do you think our freedom, for which we gave up all possessions, is no greater than that of the mindless seagulls? That our realm is a few rocks at the edge of your rich islands? You own the earth, you own the sea. But we are the fire of sunlight, we fly the wind!

Do either of these sound strangely familiar?

Commentary on Bareishit by Rabbi Andrew Davids, My Jewish Learning
God gave human beings the ability and power to name. Just as God separates light from darkness and dry land from water, this biblical text affirms that humans–created in the image of God–may seek to bring order to our chaotic and dynamic world through the process of naming. The power to name can be experienced in our everyday lives; for example, nothing grabs the attention of a misbehaving child more effectively than a parent–the bestower of the child’s names–calling him by his first, middle, and last names
Legends of the Jews 1.1.59
The phoenix is also called "the guardian of the terrestrial sphere." He runs with the sun on his circuit, and he spreads out his wings and catches up the fiery rays of the sun. If he were not there to intercept them, neither man nor any other animate being would keep alive. On his right wing the following words are inscribed in huge letters, about four thousand stadia high: "Neither the earth produces me, nor the heavens, but only the wings of fire." His food consists of the manna of heaven and the dew of the earth. His excrement is a worm, whose excrement in turn is the cinnamon used by kings and princes.
Le Guin before she would begin teaching a Women's Writing class each year at Oregon
“Some of us are Jewish, and some of us are goyish… Some of us are girlish, and some of us are boyish.”
  • Le Guin's father and his first wife were famous Jewish anthropologists, and her mother was also a famous anthropologist but her ethnic affiliation is unknown. All are noted as escaping Hitler's Germany. She herself was an avowed atheist who nonethess battled with the afterlife and spirituality in her texts.
  • Do you think she was influenced by Judaism, or is this a reach?
We Were Wrong to Assume Ella Emhoff Is Jewish, by Molly Tolsky in Hey Alma
In an article published last Friday, Forward editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren reported that when reached out to participate in an event for the Jewish newspaper, a spokesperson for Ella declined, saying, “Ella is not Jewish.” In subsequent emails, the spokesperson clarified that while Doug Emhoff had started celebrating Judaism “out of an independent search” over the last few years, Ella was not living with him at the time and Judaism is “not something she grew up with.” For that reason, “Ella truly has no qualms with the faith, but she does not want to speak on behalf of Judaism, as she does not celebrate herself.”
Bobby Fischer letter to Encyclopedia Judaica Jerusalem, June 28, 1984
Knowing what I do about Judaism (sic), I was naturally distressed to see that you have erroneously featured me as a Jew in ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA. Please do not make this mistake again in any future additions of your voluminous, pseudo-authoritative publication. I am not today, nor have I ever been a Jew, and as a matter of fact, I am uncircumcised.

I suggest rather than fraudulently misrepresenting me to be a Jew, and dishonestly abusing my name and reputation as a kind of advertising gimmick to improve the image of your religion (Judaism), you try to promote your religion on its own merits—if indeed it has any!
Tablet Magazine paraphrasing A Bobby Fischer radio Broadcast in the Phillipines
The Jews are a "filthy, lying bastard people" bent on world domination through such insidious schemes as the Holocaust ("a money-making invention"), the mass murder of Christian children ("their blood is used for black-magic ceremonies"), and junk food (William Rosenberg, the founder of Dunkin' Donuts, is singled out as a culprit).
  • Ursula Le Guin's Jewish ancestry is vague, much more so than Emhoff and Fischer's who completely deny their Jewishness. Is it fair to offer Jewish readings of any works if you're not sure of their connection to a Jewish identity?