BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Tzvi Freeman Question: I've been getting into Torah lately. But the more I learn, the more I see how everyone around me is doing it all wrong. I don't mean the people that are not observant. I mean the people that have committed to an observant life. There's so much hypocrisy!   Answer: Don't get so excited. It's just a personality thing. You're probably one of those School of Shammai souls. Remember the story with the Talmudic sage Shammai? A man came and asked, "Convert me to Judaism on condition that you tell me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot!" Shammai chased the mocker out with a yardstick. So he went to Hillel. Hillel converted him on the spot and then told him: "That which is hateful to you, don't do to others. This is the entire Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and learn it!" Some people tie their shoelaces a little looser. Some tie them real tight. Some let the world come in as one big blur. Others foc...

by Ernest S. Wolf, MD (This paper originally was delivered at the International Self-Psychology Symposium in Dreieich, Germany, May, 2001.) Our topic for tonight, the problem of group violence, is one of the most important issues facing society. Not only is this a most crucial topic for our American society but we are confronted with events that are occurring all over the globe, on all continents and in all countries. While it is obvious that the daily news pin-point the current hottest areas of conflict, such as the Middle East, the Balkans, and certain regions of Africa, there seems to be no spot on this earth that is safe from unreasoning violence. Individuals as well as groups are in danger of being destroyed. How are we to understand these phenomena? I will attempt to bring two psychoanalytic perspectives to bear on these questions. A classic Freudian view derives the anger that is being expressed in hostile actions to an instinctual drive of aggression which is mo...