Al Shloshah D’varim: A Jewish and a Psychoanalytic View on Aging with Dr. Allen Siegel

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How might Jewish and psychoanalytic perspectives on aging be related? This class will explore how these differing ways of understanding are strands that can be woven into a singular, braided understanding that can lighten the insidious process of aging.

An understanding of the emotional changes that occur with aging benefits from a broader understanding of human psychology. With that in mind, our first session will study the contributions of 20^th-century Chicago psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut and his revolutionary understanding of the human condition.

In our second session, we’ll compare Kohut’s foundational ideas about the human condition with the foundational Judaic ideas expressed metaphorically in Al Shloshah D’varim (from Pirke Avot). These foundational d’varim are so important that the 16th-century Rabbi Isaac Luria references them in his prescription for tikkun olam. We’ll question what makes these words so special for Luria and how they might relate to the psychology of aging.

Our third and final session will engage both Kohut and Rabbi Luria as we traverse the roads of aging that inevitably lead to our own ends. Talk about our endings is neither popular nor easy. Still, the reality of “endings” emerges naturally from within our conversation about aging as we explore the meanings of life’s supporting d’varim.

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