An Evening with Author Nathan Szajnberg

Author Nathan Szajnberg will discuss his work on three father-son relationships as told by classic texts. He examines their dynamics and underpinnings, as well as their points of failure. His fourth example, the relationship between Jacob and Joseph, illustrates architecture for a sustainable future. Szajnberg highlights where this father-son relationship endures while others fail. The talk is backed with research and investigation that culminated in a comprehensive book sure to leave the reader with an expanded world view.

“Jacob and Joseph, Judaism’s Architects and Birth of the Ego Ideal” is about a father and son story–Jacob and Joseph–that is radically different and healthier than the three major father-son myths in Western literature: Abraham/Isaac; Laius/Oedipus and God/Christ.

The book demonstrates that the Jacob/Joseph relationship provided the familial infrastructure for Judaism. It also discovers the first description of a psychic structure–the Ego Ideal–found in Joseph, that explains his success and provides the fundamental ingredient for Jewish endurance. We will follow the story with attention to the poetry of the text and the liveliness of the characters’ interactions including Joseph’s breaking into tears six times, the first overt tears shed by a Biblical forefather (or mother).

Dr. Szajnberg was born in a German DP camp and grew up in upstate New York. He studied at the University of Chicago College and Medical School, then in residencies in pediatrics, general psychiatry and child/adolescent psychiatry. He’s received two NIMH awards (adolescence and infancy) and was the Ticho lecturer in 2012.

Nathan was the Sigmund Freud Professor of Psychoanalysis at the Hebrew University and Wallerstein Research Fellow in Psychoanalysis (2005-16) when he began writing this study of father-son relationships. This is his sixth book. He lives in Palo Alto with his wife and three sons.

Books will be available for sale at the event.

$18 General Public | $15 Members and J-Pass holders | $5 Students with ID.

Presented by The Oshman Family JCC.