Open letter to Stephen Hawking

Dear Professor Stephen Hawking,

Based on your information and informed opinion, you have decided to join the boycott of Israel. Therefore, you have withdrawn your participation in the upcoming President's Conference.

There is much to criticize in regard to Israel, not the least the extensive settlements in occupied areas of the West Bank, in areas that are aimed for Palestine, whether as an independent state or in confederation with Jordan.

I assume that your decision is not only emotionally based, but founded on facts that you have gathered and analyzed, weighed against other events presently taking place in the world. In the past you have certainly proven yourself an independent thinker. Thus, I assume that you have not just succumbed to the pressure which you have been exposed to by the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Since I am not aware of any other country that you have decided to boycott, or having expressed your esteemed opinion about, I would like to hear your opinion about the killings of tens of thousands in Syria, the indiscriminate firing of rockets from Palestinian area and by Hezbollah from Lebanon aimed at civilian Israeli territories, as well as your opinion about the anti-Semitic charter of the Hamas and the ethnic cleansing of the Jews that appear in the Palestinian Charter, and Iran’s expressed threat to wipe out Israel.

I would like to hear your opinion about countries, too many to enumerate, that are guilty of discrimination, ethnic cleansing, and human rights violations.

Because if you don’t, then you have singled out Israel, compromising your hitherto known capacity for independent thinking, given in to political pressure, parroting the attitude that the earth is flat, with a black hole in the middle, somewhere along the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Hero and His Shadow introduces a psychological perspective on the history, development and myths of modern Israel.

The realization of Zionism relied on the pioneer, who revolted against the Way of the Fathers and sought spiritual redemption through the revival of Mother Earth in the ancient land. Myth and history, psyche and matter are constantly intertwined in the birth and development of Israel, for example when in the Declaration of Independence we are told that pioneers make deserts bloom, the text actually says they make spirits blossom.

Pioneer, guardsman and then warrior were admired hero-ideals. However, in the shadow of the hero and the guiding myths of revolt, redemption, strength and identity-change, there were feelings of despair, doubt, weakness and fear. Where there has been renewal, lurks the threat of annihilation.

The suppressed aspects of past and present myths, which linger in the shadow, are exposed. The psychological consequences of Israel’s wars, from independence to the war of terror, are explored both on a personal note and from a psychoanalytic perspective, with social examples and clinical vignettes.

Shadow aspects of the conflicting guiding myths Peace and Greater Israel are examined. The mythological background of the archetypal struggle between Isaac and Ishmael, and the relationship between Jerusalem and the archetypal images of Wholeness and Satan are looked into.

The Hero and His Shadow & Requiem flyer

Heart and the (Philosopher's) Stone in Prague

'Rooftops and Towers of Prague,' a drawing by
Petr Ginz, 1928-1944 (Yad vaShem).

Born in Prague, Petr spent his adolescence in the children's home in the Theresienstadt ghetto. He was murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the fall of 1944. In 2003, Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut that perished in the space shuttle Columbia, took Petr Ginz's drawing 'Moon Landscape' (see below) with him from the Yad Vashem collection.

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Czech Society for Analytical Psychology, to deliver a lecture and a workshop on the Cycle of Life.

Following several years of experience with the impressive Bulgarian Jung Society, as well as visiting the groups in Poland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic, I can testify to the admirable devotion and seriousness found among the analysts, therapists and students in these countries. Their thirst for knowledge is a source of inspiration, and in only a few years the therapists in these countries have gained increasing psychotherapeutic experience.

It was a great joy to lecture to the members of the Czech Society, to an attentive audience of analysts and analysts to be, Jungian oriented therapists and students.

The weekend was particularly moving and meaningful because of Dvorah Kutzinski, who gave two related seminars – one on Erich Neumann’s Origins of Consciousness, and a seminar on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, including the screening of Bergman’s wonderful movie.

At 87, Dvorah Kutzinski, the Grand Old Lady of Jungian Analysts in Israel, is as sharp, witty and vital as ever. Coupled with her awareness of old age and death, she is full of life and energy, leaving many of us behind.

Her charismatic personality comes across in lectures and seminars, therapy and supervision, as her students, analysands and colleagues of more than fifty years will attest.

The person she is and her individual life are deeply intertwined with the history and culture of the 20th Century. She grew up in the house in which Kafka was born, with Max Brod, to whom we owe the preservation of Kafka’s manuscripts, among the weekly guests in their home. Her father, the philologist Prof. Zeckendorf, later one of the famous lecturers at Theresienstadt, predicted Kafka’s future long before his rise to fame.

After years in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz, she arrived at the shores of Israel, and met Erich Neumann. She became a close friend and his foremost disciple, making his writings accessible to generations of Jungians. And the Czech she hasn’t spoken for seventy years, emerged from the depths of memory. She was received, as she so rightly deserves, with great warmth and appreciation.

Regarding the whereabouts and recent findings about the Golem of Prague, I have been sworn to silence and cannot yet disclose anything. It will have to remain shrouded in mystery, until it eventually will emerge from the hiding place in the shadows of science. Let me only mention that the story about the golem of Prague, based on the legend of the sixteenth century Rabbi Loew from Prague, was revived at the turn of the century by several authors, notably Gustav Meyrink. Meyrink had been a bank manager, before turning to alchemy and Kabbalah. He was convinced that the Philosopher’s Stone was to be found in the Prague sewer system, and from serious research into this matter, I have found conclusive evidence that the stone probably is to be found in the nigredo of Prague’s shadow.

The Jewish Cemetery in Prague

Petr Ginz, 'Moon Landscape' (Yad vaShem)

Hebrew Book Week שבוע הספר העברי

The yearly Hebrew Book Week began in 1926 as a one-day event on Rotschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. It has evolved to outdoor book fairs held all over the country, during a week or often ten days, when books are sold at a discount.

Until June 16, Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return and The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality can be purchased, in Hebrew and English, at a 30% discount in Israel, at Hebrew Psychology Book Fair.

שבוע הספר העברי התחיל בשד' רוטשילד בתל אביב, ב-1926, כארוע ליום אחד. מאז התפתח, ומ-1961 שבוע הספר מתקיים כל שנה בכל הארץ.

עד 16 ביוני, ניתן לרכוש את הספרים חזרה: סיפור של גלות ושיבה והגיבור וצלו: היבטים פסיכו-פוליטיים של מיתוס ומציאות בישראל ב 30% הנחה, באתר של פסיכולוגיה עברית.

חזרה: סיפור של גלות ושיבה מחזירה אותנו לנושא נצחי, דו שיח עם הנפש, והרי אנחנו יודעים

היטב מה קורה כשמשוחחים עם הנפש – אנחנו משתנים, התודעה מתרחבת, הבלתי אפשרי נהיה אפשרי, וכבר לא חייבים ללכת בדרך הקטלנית של האבות הקדמונים.

חזרה היא סיפור דמיוני של תרחיש שמתרחש בראשם של ישראלים רבים, קשור להרהורים קיומיים ופחדים אפוקליפטיים – ויחד אם זאת, התקוה והמחויבות שעולים מתהום הפחד. הסיפור אומנם מתרחש בארץ מתישהו בהווה, אך הוא קושר אותנו לנצחיות ההסטוריה בשילוב מארג של דיונים עם קפקא והיינה, וכך מקבל משמעות אוניברסלית.

Requiem returns us to an eternal theme, a dialogue with Soul, and we know quite well what happens when one dialogues with Soul—we change, consciousness is enlarged, the impossible becomes possible and we no longer are compelled to blindly follow in the deathly path of our forefathers.

Requiem is a fictitious account of a scenario played out in the mind of many Israelis, pertaining to existential reflections and apocalyptic fears, but then, as well, the hope and commitment that arise from the abyss of trepidation. While set in Israel sometime in the present, it is a story that reaches into the timelessness of history, weaving discussions with Heine and Kafka into a tale of universal implications.

Jungian Psychotherapy at Bar Ilan פסיכותרפיה יונגיאנית בבר אילן

We are pleased to announce the opening of the fourth class of the three-year program in

Jungian Psychotherapy

Bar Ilan University, Continuing Education, Weisfeld School of Social Work

Dr. Erel Shalit, Academic Director

For further details, please click here

Studies are conducted in Hebrew, please see below

תוכנית תלת-שנתית לפסיכותרפיה בגישה האנליטית של יונג

מרכז אקדמי: ד"ר אראל שליט

תאריך פתיחה: אוקטובר 2013

מטרות התכנית

התכנית מיועדת להכשיר אנשי מקצוע למטפלים בפסיכותרפיה עפ"י הגישה האנליטית של יונג. התכנית תקנה היכרות מעמיקה עם תורתו של יונג ודרך יישומה: כולל הבנת נפש האדם המתפתחת בתהליך האינדיבידואציה שלו ובתוך סביבתו ושורשיו התרבותיים, החל מהילדות המוקדמת, הבגרות, אמצע החיים והזקנה. תלמד גם הגישה הסימבולית והטיפולית של הפסיכולוגיה היונגיאנית ואופן העבודה עם תכני הלא-מודע. ההוראה וההדרכה ינתנו ע"י מיטב האנליטיקאים היונגיאניים בארץ.

אוכלוסיית היעד

עובדים סוציאליים בעלי תואר שני לפחות; פסיכולוגים; פסיכיאטרים.

מספר מקומות ישמרו למועמדים בעלי תואר שני בתחומי הטיפול כגון, טיפול ביצירה ובהבעה וקרימינולוגיה קלינית.

מבנה התכנית

הלימודים יתקיימו במשך שלוש שנים במתכונת משולבת של קורסים תיאורטיים, סדנאות חווייתיות, סמינר קליני והדרכה קבוצתית; בימי שני בשעות 15:00-20:30 בשנה הראשונה ובשעות 13:00-20:30 בשנים השניה והשלישית. סה"כ 572 שעות.

סגל ההוראה

לעיון ברשימה המעודכנת של חברי סגל התכנית:

רשימת חברי הסגל והמדריכים בתכנית התלת-שנתית לפסיכותרפיה בגישה האנליטית של יונג

רשימת חברי הסגל מתעדכנת מעת לעת.

ועדת הוראה והיגוי

ד"ר יהודה אברמוביץ, ד"ר אבי באומן, גב' רינה פורת, ד"ר אראל שליט.

מרכז הדרכה: מר נתנאל פרי

מרכזת עבודות גמר: גב' תמר לנגבהיים

מטלות

קריאה רצופה של חומר מקצועי בעברית ובאנגלית.

הגשת עבודה בהיקף של 5-7 עמודים בסיום השנה הראשונה והשניה אשר תשקף את הבנת הרוח היונגיאנית.

בסיום השנה השלישית תוגש עבודה אשר בה יידרש שילוב של הבנת התיאוריה והגישה הטיפולית.

על הסטודנט להתחיל הדרכה פרטנית בשנה הראשונה ולהמשיכה עד לסיום התכנית. ההדרכה תינתן ע"י מדריכי התכנית בעלות של 250 ש"ח לשעת הדרכה. נדרשות 90 שעות הדרכה, אשר מתחלקות בין שני מדריכים, לפחות 30 שעות אצל כל מדריך.

לסטודנטים בתכנית מומלץ לעבור טיפול באורינטציה יונגיאנית.

תעודה

לעומדים בהצלחה בדרישות התכנית, תוענק תעודה המאשרת סיום לימודי פסיכותרפיה בגישה האנליטית של יונג מטעם היחידה ללימודי המשך של ביה"ס לעבודה סוציאלית ע"ש לואיס וגבי וייספלד, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן.

התכנית מוכרת ע"י האגודה הישראלית לפסיכותרפיה פסיכואנליטית.

התכנית אינה מוכרת לגמול השתלמות.

הרשמה

על הנרשמים לצרף:

• טופס הרשמה
• דמי הרשמה - המחאה בסך 250 ש"ח לפקודת אוניברסיטת בר-אילן
• קורות חיים אישיים ומקצועיים (לימודים אקדמיים ולא אקדמיים, התנסות מקצועית ופרסומים)
• תמונת פספורט
• צילומי תעודות של התואר הראשון/השני
• אישורים על ניסיון קליני של שלוש שנים

המועמדים המתאימים יוזמנו לראיונות אישיים.
המתקבלים לתכנית מחויבים לתכנית המלאה.

שכר הלימוד

שנה א' – 8,600 ₪ + 250 ₪ דמי הרשמה.
ניתן לשלם בשמונה תשלומים הצמודים למדד יוקר המחיה יולי 2013.
שנה ב' – 8,600 ₪
ניתן לשלם בשמונה תשלומים הצמודים למדד יוקר המחיה יולי 2014.
שנה ג' – 8,600 ₪
ניתן לשלם בשמונה תשלומים הצמודים למדד יוקר המחיה יולי 2015


להורדת טופס הרשמה לקורס נא לחץ/י כאן
 

:פרטים נוספים

לימודי המשך ביה"ס לעבודה סוציאלית ע"ש לואיס וגבי וייספלד אוניברסיטת בר- אילן

טלפונים: 5317265 - 03, 5318211 - 03

פקס: 7384043 - 03

אתר היחידה

Anonymous join Ahmadinejad to demand "wipe Israel off ..."

Hacktivist collective Anonymous has announced a forthcoming cyber-attack on Israel set to "wipe Israel off the Internet.”

The date set for the attack is April 7, 2013 (in fact, the attack began several days earlier,targeting Facebook accounts).

April 7, Holocaust Memorial Day, is an indicative choice, and my only suggestion is to the members of the group:

• Don’t be afraid, stand up, don’t hide behind the masks of anonymity.

• Be brave, be honest, declare your aim: "wipe Israel off the Internet.” You join not a few who think likewise, for instance the Ayatollahs who want to "wipe Israel off the map."

Do follow in the footsteps of Norwegian philosopher Jostein Gaarder, who writes, “We do no longer recognize the State of Israel. … We laugh at this people’s – the Jews – fancies and weep over its misdeeds.” Then, foreseeing the fulfillment of his wet dream he excels in triumphant compassion, exclaiming “Peace and free passage for the evacuating civilian population no longer protected by a state. Fire not at the fugitives! Take not aim at them! They are vulnerable now like snails without shells… Give the Israeli refugees shelter, give them milk and honey!” (From Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return, p. 15)

As a Jew, as an Israeli, who is not blind to our shortcomings and state my opinion openly (e.g. as a signature in a petition in HaAretz, April 4), I cannot but look around in bewilderment at this world, probably flawless were it not for "the laughable misdeeds of the Jews"...

As a small counter-contribution to the efforts of Anonymous to delete and erase, I will contribute half of my royalties from purchases of Requiem during April to Yad VaShem, the Holocaust Research and Memorial Center, which has the aim of bringing the victims of Genocide out of anonymity:

"And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a "yad vashem")... that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5).

Blurbs from the back cover of Requiem:

Requiem returns us to an eternal theme, a dialogue with Soul, and we know quite well what happens when one dialogues with Soul—we change, consciousness is enlarged, the impossible becomes possible and we no longer are compelled to blindly follow in the deathly path of our forefathers.

Requiem is a fictitious account of a scenario played out in the mind of many Israelis, pertaining to existential reflections and apocalyptic fears, but then, as well, the hope and commitment that arise from the abyss of trepidation. While set in Israel sometime in the present, it is a story that reaches into the timelessness of history, weaving discussions with Heine and Kafka into a tale of universal implications.

You can help in my efforts by purchasing Requiem at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Fisher King Press (it can also be bought in all these locations in Hebrew edition)

To everything there is a season; a time of war, and now a time of peace

Thank you President Obama for your visit in Israel. 

You won the hearts of all. The truth is, the minds of most are already oriented in the same direction as yours: a majority of Israelis, even of those who voted for PM Netanyahu, prefer a viable Palestinian State alongside Israel to stalemate, and would prefer ploughshares to swords.

Impressively, you corrected some mistakes of the past – such as not to make negotiations conditional on a settlement freeze.

President Abbas, now it is your turn not to repeat the mistakes of the past: You keep insisting on a settlement freeze as a pre-condition for entering negotiations. When PM Netanyahu agreed to President Obama’s request and implemented a ten-month settlement freeze, you did not return to the negotiation table, but asked for more.

And if you were truly honest, you would recognize Israel as a (the) Jewish State (with a sizable Arab minority), just like the State of Palestine, doubtlessly, is an Arab State (which you prefer without Jews).

PM Netanyahu – this is your third government. Fortune has brought you yet another opportunity. In spite of your hopes and the expectation that you would win a giant election victory, you barely escaped embarrassing defeat. What seemed like an unalterable long-term trend toward the right, received a surprising blow, and the Israeli people clearly said, “We want change.”

This is the time to seek your place in the annals of the people of Israel. You probably wanted to be recorded in the history book of your father, the right-wing historian. But your father is dead, and now, as we celebrate Passover, in commemoration of liberation from slavery, you are free to abandon the too grand fantasies and enter into the freedom of realistic implementation.

Please do hold on to the sense of historical rights of the Jewish people to the entire Land of Israel, yet do also realize that this earth is shared between two peoples, each with its grandiose fantasies, wanting it all for themselves, but having to compromise in the balance of reality.

If, likewise, the Palestinian leadership, who adheres to the idea of Greater Palestine, abandons their written desire to actually cleanse this land of the Jews, then both sides may approach each other.

This is a golden opportunity. President Obama has expressed and demonstrated his firm commitment, and will provide the help the sons of Isaac and the sons of Ishmael need.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, you will have a strong majority behind you if you:

• declare a stop of building in all settlements beyond the security fence, and a step-by-step process of “evacuation-compensation” of the Jewish settlers there, rather than wasting the country’s finances on settlements that in any case at some point will be evacuated; and
• recognize the State of Palestine, within temporary borders.

You could then suggest the beginning of a process of negotiations of partial agreements, in which every agreed-upon step is implemented, rather than complete agreements, to be implemented only at the end of negotiations (which has not been successful).

It may be more convenient for the Palestinians to negotiate as a Palestine – Jordan confederation, which makes it more sustainable during interim stages, and puts the pressure off the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish State early in the process.

That way, areas of West Bank land not yet under Palestinian control can be handed over, step by step, to the Palestinian State, which together with Jordan can implement the necessary security to prevent rockets and other military equipment from entering, which might threaten for instance Israeli air traffic.

In exchange for the settlement blocs along the former Green Line (a few percent of the West Bank), in which the great majority of Israeli settlers live, Egypt could provide area in Sinai to enable the necessary expansion of Gaza, while Israel turns over part of Western Negev to Egypt.

Map by Shaul Arieli 

Whatever procedures, processes and arrangements, this is the season and the time to be liberated from rigid conceptualizations. President Obama clearly showed the way, including learning from past mistakes. Many claim your government has a too strong right-wing element. That will not be a big problem; just like your mentor Menachem Begin, who signed a peace treaty with Egypt relying on the left, you can safely rely on a parliamentary majority in favor of peace. All it takes is a courage, creativity and leadership.

Happy Passover ! חג שמח 

From the Arthur Szyk Haggadah

Further readings: The Hero & His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel; Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return.

Internet, Transparency, Transiency and the Shadow

This profound painting, The Geology of Time, by Susan Bostrom Wong, opened the article 'Destruction of the Image and the Worship of Transiency', in The Jung Journal: Psyche and Culture.

The Internet is a dramatic manifestation of the rapid and enormous changes that humankind is experiencing in the world of today (or tomorrow, before the sentence is finished).

It is still in its very early stages, but who can imagine that less than two decades ago, practically no one had heard about that reality, however virtual, of our world.

In 2006, 18% of the world’s population had already access to the World Wide Web. Within five years it had doubled, reaching 35%.

If today there are private companies the size of countries, there are phenomena, such as Google and Facebook, that have become entire continents, in that alternative world in which we live, called the Internet.

While in many ways the expansion of the internet seems erratic, chaotic and associative, it may well be a self-regulating system, moving towards increasing similarity with what we still might call “the real world”:

The future of the Internet technological revolution will continue to be made in man's image.

Three dimensional graphics will become more sophisticated, and virtual reality interfaces such as viewers and tactile feedback systems will become more realistic. The technology will be applied to innovative ways to navigate the Internet's information universe, for hyper-realistic gaming, and for group communications. There will come a day when you will be able to have dinner with a group of friends each in a different city, almost as though you were in the same room, although you will all have to bring your own food.

Virtual reality applications will not only better and better reflect the natural world, they will also have the fluidity, flexibility, and speed of the digital world, layered on the Internet, and so will be used to create apparently magical environments of types we can only now begin to imagine. These increasingly sophisticated virtual experiences will continue to change how we understand the nature of reality, experience, art, and human relations.

Retrieved from The Future of the Internet

The assets, advances and advantages of the Internet are innumerable. Yet, everything has its shadow(s). Often the shadows that we have ignored and supposedly left behind, jump up right in front of us and obstruct our free forward movement; take for example how environmentalists of the time welcomed the automobile,

In cities and towns the noise and clatter of the streets will be reduced, priceless boon to the tired nerves of this overwrought generation. … On sanitary grounds too the banishing of horses from our city streets will be a blessing. Streets will be cleaner, jams and blockages less likely to occur and accidents less frequent, for the horse is not so manageable as a mechanical vehicle.[1]

While the car has become a crucial means of transportation in our world, we may now, a hundred years later, be more aware of its disadvantages; more than a million people are killed around the world in road accidents, and an estimated 50 million wounded per year (World Health Organization).

The speed with which we access information impedes the ability to digest it; digestion is needed to turn information into knowledge, knowledge into understanding, and understanding into wisdom.

Much of what takes place on the Internet becomes transient – one website leads to the next, as we swiftly move on to something else that attracts our attention.

The Internet enables greater transparency, which often is desirable. But with transparency comes a certain loss of privacy, when everything can be forwarded and mass-distributed with great ease, sometimes intentionally, sometimes provocatively, and occasionally by mistake.

One recent example is an email, by mistake circulated to the students, compiled by one of the teachers at a High School in Kfar Saba, in which one student is described as “selfish,” another as “not particularly bright,” and another as “a big baby.”

In this case, what pertains to simple gossip, unworthy of being put on paper, was not only printed, thus becoming ‘a document,’ but distributed to all students, making us wonder what really keeps these teachers occupied; clearly not valuable education. Gossip – a word which interestingly comes from ‘God-siblings’ – sometimes makes aspects of everyday a bit juicier, shouldn’t be taken seriously. It shouldn’t become a document, and it shouldn’t become public. The shadow of gossip should be relegated to the secrecy of dark corners of dining-hall tables or coffee-shop chatter. But now, with the ease of pushing buttons, shadows are easily thrown out right there in front of us, penetrating the weakening filters of the ego and ego-judgment, fusing with the face of our personae.

Read more, e.g. Self, Meaning & the Transient Personality, Recollection and recollectivization, Destruction of the Image and the Worship of Transiency here.

Technology is not only here to stay, but we would rather not do without it. However, rather than a future in which man and machine struggle against each other, with a doubtful outcome, modern technology can be combined with the mystery of life and the magic of childhood, as for instance in Gal Sasson's Make-a-Play, a finalist in the Engadget Insert Coin Competition.

[1] Appeared in Horseless Age, “a popular magazine for automobile enthusiasts” published between 1895 and 1918; from Ann Norton Greene, “Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America.”