The Problem of Desire: Psychoanalysis as a Jewish Wisdom Tradition

Abstract

In Havah Tirosh-Samuelson’s extensive monograph “Happiness in Premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge and Well-being”, she argues that from ancient times onward within Judaism, the achievement of happiness, the eudaemonia so ardently sought by the wisdom and philosophical traditions of antiquity, became inextricably linked to the Torah. The Torah was seen to provide the blueprint, the basis, for a happy and fulfilling life. She writes, “the ancient Israelite Wisdom tradition (whose prime exemplar was the Biblical book of Proverbs) was practical and pragmatic. Based on the observation of nature and human conduct, it was concerned with ordering life so as to maximize success and prosperity. Its teachings enabled the learner to master his environment and cope with the dangers and vicissitudes of life” (Tirosh-Samuelson, 2003, p. 58). Self discipline was thus not only a command, but a virtue, with the goal being the individual’s mastery of desires and impulses. Seen in this light, the Ten Commandments came to represent the highest catalogue of virtues (Tirosh-Samuelson, p. 94). By following these commandments, wrote the Jewish philosopher Philo (15 BCE-50CE), one