ABSTRACT
The closest link between Sigmund Freud and the depths of his Jewish interests has recently come to light in the form of an exchange of letters between the Los Angeles psychoanalyst, Dr. Samuel Eisenstein, and the prominent Kabbalist and chief rabbi of Geneva, Rabbi Dr. Alexandre Safran. Freud often spoke about the "warfare between science and religion". The former was rational, logical, and progressive, while the latter was obsolete, backward, and mired in superstition. He repeatedly declared that "religion is the enemy". Freud, in turn, criticized Jung for hiding behind a "religious-libidinal cloud." He insisted that Jung was "gullible about occult phenomena and infatuated with oriental religions”. Rabbi Safran was instrumental in saving 57% of the pre-war Jewish population of over 800,000. In order for Safran to continue with his discussion of these two inclinations/drives, he would have had to have shared with Freud more profound mystical and philosophical conceptions, particularly from the major Jewish mystical text, the Zohar.
