Birth in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis - (Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts) by Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- Birth in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis examines the centrality of "birth" in Jewish literature, gender theory, and psychoanalysis, thus challenging the centrality of death in Western culture and existential philosophy.
- About the Author: Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel, Haifa University, Israel.
- 262 Pages
- Social Science, Jewish Studies
- Series Name: Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts
Description
About the Book
The experience of birth has functioned through the ages as a vital metaphor foundational to all fields of art, philosophy, religion and literature. This book highlights the significance of birth in Jewish culture, as a challenge to existential philoBook Synopsis
Birth in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis examines the centrality of "birth" in Jewish literature, gender theory, and psychoanalysis, thus challenging the centrality of death in Western culture and existential philosophy. In this groundbreaking study, Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel discuss similarities between Biblical, Midrashic, Kabbalistic, and Hasidic perceptions of birth, as well as its place in contemporary cultural and psychoanalytic discourse. In addition, this study shows how birth functions as a vital metaphor that has been foundational to art, philosophy, religion, and literature. Medieval Kabbalistic literature compared human birth to divine emanation, and presented human sexuality and procreation as a reflection of the sefirotic structure of the Godhead - an attempt, Kaniel claims, to marginalize the fear of death by linking the humane and divine acts of birth. This book sheds new light on the image of God as the "Great Mother" and the crucial role of the Shekhinah as a cosmic womb.
Birth in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis won the Gorgias Prize and garnered significant appreciation from psychoanalytic therapists in clinical practice dealing with birth trauma, postpartum depression, and in early infancy distress.
About the Author
Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel, Haifa University, Israel.
