ABSTRACT
Sigmund Freud’s anti-religious stance, his doubts and fears concerning the Zionist movement and its political feasibility, and his determined strivings towards scientific universalism—all of these could not mask or eradicate the deeply rooted and essential Jewish core of his identity. This chapter examines the closely intertwined links between Freud’s dilemma with his Jewish identity, his deep concerns about his leadership and the future of his legacy, and his understanding of the position of the Jews in the world in relation to anti-Semitism. Der Mann Moses occupies a special niche in the corpus of Freud’s writings. The continuing fascination with this singular work is probably due to the many dynamic strands woven into it. In the Der Mann Moses, he focuses on the transition from animism and paganism to abstract faith, and from concrete animism to the dominance of the spiritual and the intellectual.
