Homosexuality, Transsexuality, Psychoanalysis and Traditional Judaism

Homosexuality, Transsexuality, Psychoanalysis and Traditional Judaism explores the often incommensurable and irreconcilable beliefs and understandings of sexuality and gender in the Orthodox Jewish community from psychoanalytic, rabbinic, feminist, and queer perspectives. The book delves into how seemingly irreconcilable differences might be resolved.

The book is divided into two separate but related sections. The first section highlights the divide between the psychoanalytic, academic, and traditional Orthodox Jewish perspectives on sexual identity and orientation, as well as the acute psychic and social challenges faced by gay and lesbian members of the Orthodox Jewish world. The contributors invite us to engage with them in a dialogue that allows for authentic conversation.

The second section focuses on gender identity, particularly as experienced by the Orthodox transgender members of the community. It highlights the divide between theories that perceive gender as fluid and traditional Judaism that perceives gender as strictly binary. The contributors share their views and experiences from both sides of the divide, encouraging us to engage in true authentic dialogue about these complex and crucial emotional and religious challenges.

Homosexuality, Transsexuality, Psychoanalysis and Traditional Judaism will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists, as well as members and leaders of Jewish communities working with LGBTQ issues.