Torah and the Pleasure Principle - The Philosophy of Judaism and Joy

The Philosophy of Judaism and Joy

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Torah and Pleasure Principle

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Topics: Pleasure; Delight; Fun, Baal Teshuvah, Translation, Hellenists, Freud, Dr Sigmund, Septuagint

By William Kolbrener

An American born writer and scholar, with degrees from Oxford and Columbia, William Kolbrener lives in Jerusalem and is professor of English Literature at Bar Ilan University. His Milton’s Warring Angels, an internationally acclaimed work on the author of Paradise Lost, was published by Cambridge University Press in 1997, and he co-edited a volume on the British proto-feminist Mary Astell Ashgate in 2008. Kolbrener’s scholarship has been recognized by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, the Einstein Forum, the Milton Society of America, and the Society for Early Modern Women. William Kolbrener’s newest book, Open Minded Torah: Of Irony, Fundamentalism and Love was published by Continuum in spring 2011.

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January 24, 2013

Torah and the Pleasure Principle

Thank you for the pleasureable hearing of your subject. Freud also wrote Beyond the Pleasure Principle. In it he was influenced by his traditional Jewish background. The repitition compulsion's strength lies in the immersion in history without memory. Psychoanalysis enables memory thus stimulating the ability to enjoy. Our ability to work through creates process,creativity and individuality. Our gift of the Torah truly gives divinity and this learning does indeed give 'neshama plasticity'.

Geraldine Torf Boston,MA

August 12, 2011

o sweet spontaneous ...

: (fiddlesticks!!)

thanks prof. Kolbrener, for this fullness of pomegranate; not just one seed, a whole cross-section!! i quite enjoyed this re-envisioning of ah ah ah ... post-diluvian rainbow!

made me ask myself, just what was G'd's reason to give us the Flood? Was G-d ultimately asking us to look beyond the pairing of our animalistic souls towards a new covenant?

'neshamah' plasticity?; ... sounds like the beginning of a discussion on re re re - reincarnation!

this really is a mind opening website!!

shalom & i hope to read your book, soon.

C. Nielson
Aarlanderveen, Holland

August 12, 2011

Torah and the Pleasure Principle

Thanks for your lecture Prof.

Giuseppe Mondelli

August 1, 2011

The pursuit of authenticity and connection.

Thank you so much, Professor Kolbrener, for your enlightening lecture.
I discovered , for my own pursuit, the God of Israel in relation to His People, and he was the loving God of Israel. For that reason I can fully understand your vision and insight about our pursuit of authenticity and joy in the Jewish religion, and the need for connection.
I also felt an identification of our highly regarded tradition but be oppened to the new and change especially at our challenging times.
Thank you so much. Shalom!

Celia Leal da Costa
São Paulo, Brazil

August 1, 2011

Thanks for the class

thanks for the class. used a lot of words but it seemed there was one missing. thoughts and thinking is ok too "Not that there is anything wrong with that" lol.

John Smith
Fort Lauderdale, FL