ABSTRACT
Wolf (Zeev) is an 80-year-old German Jew, very meticulous and preoccupied with his health and appearance. We had endless consultations for his nose which ran “but just after eating,” and for the streaks on his nails that he thought were due to a fungus infection. Sometimes, when he was especially anxious, he would not shake hands, worrying about infecting his partner, so responsible and rigidly “correct” he had to be. Although he was a wealthy married man, and father of two married children, without these anxieties he could have been a pleasant and happy person. We often talked about his feelings of loneliness and the euphemistic “golden” days. He came to Israel before World War II, so that he did not live in Germany during the Holocaust. He clearly remembered his parents’ depression following their immigration and their disillusionment with the hot, “Levantine” atmosphere of Palestine before the creation of the state of Israel. Both Wolf and his wife made special efforts to maintain their “European way of life” and both took valium for a “good” sleep.
