Freud on Monotheism, and the sublimation of the Talmud

 

 

The great psychoanalyst  Sigmund Freud attempted to deal with Religion in his final book “Moses and Montheism”.  This was not received very well  - not by the Orthodox Jews, and not by secular academics.  Briefly, his thesis was that the Israelites rose up in the wilderness, against Moses, and killed him.  But because of this guilt, they established a monotheistic religion, which became Judaism. Moses was then possibly replaced by a Midianite priest, who also took on the name Moses.

 

Whilst this appears as sheer fantasy, it is in fact not a novel theory, but perhaps a distorted or displaced theory of  statements in the Talmud, and maybe even the Torah.

 

 

In the Talmud Yerushalmi (the less commonly studied version)  Sanhedrin 2:6 , a remarkable story is told. It claims that King Solomon was deposed from his throne,  by an angel, who then replaced him on the throne!

 

“It is written: To amusement I said, be praised. The Holy One, praise to him, said to Solomon: What is this crown on your head? Descend from My throne! Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina said, at that moment an angel came down looking like Solomon, removed him from his throne, and sat in his stead. He was going around in synagogues and houses of study, saying I am Ecclesiastes, I used to be king over Israel in Jerusalem. They were telling him, the king sits on his chair of honor and you say, I am Ecclesiastes? They hit him with a stick and brought a dish of split beans before him. At that moment, he said: that is my part. Some say, a staff. Others say, a rod. Others say, with his belt. Who had accused him? Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, י in יַרְבֶּה accused him. Rebbi Simeon ben Ioḥai stated: The book Deuteronomy ascended, bowed down before the Holy One, praise to Him, and said to Him: Master of the Universe, You wrote in Your Torah that any disposition which is partially invalid is totally invalid, and now Solomon wants to uproot a י from me! The Holy One, praise to Him, said to it: Solomon and a thousand like him will disappear but nothing from you will disappear.”

 

https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Sanhedrin.2.6.7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

 

 

 

 

This story is sheer fantasy, and has no basis in the Tanakh.  For a more detailed analysis see Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz’s excellent essay:

 

https://thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/wisdom-and-human-pretention-the-riddle-of-shlomo-and-its-resolution/

 

 

 

So far, we have seen a theory about Moses, written by Freud in the 20^th century, which is remarkably similar to the story told in the Talmud Yerushalmi, which was written about 1500 years earlier.  The displacement of the story is that whereas the Yerushalmi is talking about King Solomon,  Freud has applied the core concept to Moses. The further distortion is that the Yerushalmi speaks of an “angel” who ousted Solomon, and took his throne, whereas for Freud, it was the people who arose and ousted (murdered) Moses.

 

 

Is there any basis in the Torah itself for Freud’s assertions regarding Moses?

 

The Torah tells us a course of events, which lead to Moses being prevented from Entering Israel, and sadly dying outside of the Land. But Moses in turn blames the people for this, as they were ultimately responsible for his ownpuishment:

 

 

 

Deuteronomy Chapter 1 דְּבָרִים

 

37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying: Thou also shalt not go in thither;

38 Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither; encourage thou him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

 

 

 

 

Deuteronomy Chapter 3 דְּבָרִים

 

25 Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.'

26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and the LORD said unto me: 'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this matter.

 

28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.

 

 

 

 

So Moses himself sees this as a punishment, which was due to the behaviour of the people, although indirect. And his replacement  is Joshua.

 

Freud was aware of the Torah’s own narrative, and presumably also of the Talmud.

 There is some basis for his claims, although it does take a different course from what the Torah says, and is somewhat in line with the Talmudic formulation regarding Solomon.  Freud is projecting his own theories of the subconscious and trying to derive a new theory about religion.  Moses would not agree with Freud, but he did place the punishment he suffers on the shoulders of the people, who caused  this in the first place. In fact  their rebellious nature , against Moses,  led to his receiving a punishment and dying before reaching Israel. He was replaced by another leader, Joshua.