In this pioneering work, Bakan challenges the popular view of Freud as an entirely secular intellectual, schooled in modern culture rather than Jewish traditions. Sigmund Freud & the Jewish Mystical Tradition is based on the premise that Freudian psychoanalytic theory is largely rooted in the Jewish religion, particularly the mysticism of the kabbala. In a fascinating interpretation of the blend of personality & cultural history, it employs the father of psychology's own distinction between being a Jew & the acceptance of Jewish doctrine to demonstrate the effect of Jewish mysticism in the formation of his technical genius.