Jacob Freud's birthday greeting to his son Alexander.

Abstract

A new record of Jacob Freud's writing, discovered in the Freud Collections of the Library of Congress, confirms that at a late age (77) he was still involved in Hebrew learning and Judaic practice. More significantly, a letter to his youngest son, Alexander, would seem to point strongly to the latter's knowledge and practice of Judaism. This finding, in turn, would appear to complete the picture that all four of his sons, including Sigmund, had substantial Judaic training, both in school and home. It is concluded that Freud's strong, insistent denial of his Jewish education and practice is due to ulterior motives: to distance himself publicly and totally from any possible accusations--in the midst of the anti-Semitic atmosphere in Vienna and elsewhere--that psychoanalysis is Judaic. Only thus could he claim and attempt to convince others that his psychological discoveries and principles were universal and applicable to all humanity.