Birth in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis

Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel

Published by De Gruyter 2022

Birth in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis

Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel

Volume 18 in the series Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110688023

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.　

Author / Editor information

Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel, Haifa University, Israel.

Supplementary Materials

flyer and endorsements.pdf

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 The Existentialism of Birth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
Chapter 2 The Theology and Ethics of Birth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Chapter 3 The Caesura of Birth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Chapter 4 “The Womb Is a Tomb”: The Imagery of the Uterus and Female Guilt and Death Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Chapter 5 The Double Beginning of the Zohar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Chapter 6 Longing for the Source Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
Chapter 7 Birth in Lurianic Kabbalah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Chapter 8 Redemption as Birth, Birth as Redemption Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Researchers and students of Jewish Studies, Psychoanalysis, and Comparative Religious Studies, libraries.
Pages
- Front matter: 11
- Main content: 251
Keywords: Birth; Kabbalah; Psychonanalysis; Judaism

eBook

Published: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 9783110688023

Hardcover

Published: July 18, 2022
ISBN: 9783110687491

Paperback

Planned Publication: June 17, 2024
ISBN: 9783111520575