Blacks and Jews on the Couch

Black-Jewish relations—at the symbolic level—are in shambles, writes Cornel West. One has only to recall the 1991 Crown Heights tragedy and its aftermath to recognize to what extent Black-Jewish relations have deteriorated. The emergence of frequently anti-Semitic black demagogues like Louis Farrakhan and Leonard Jeffries and the Jewish community's turn to neo-conservatism have only made matters worse. Mistrust, ambivalence, and other negative feelings characterize much of Black-Jewish relations. Unlike most books on this topic which are written from a sociocultural, historical, and literary perspective, this anthology looks at the psychological motives, beliefs, and desires that impair relations between the two groups. For example, unresolved vulnerabilities in respective communities from the Holocaust and slavery remain driving and complex passions that still disrupt Black-Jewish relations. Psychoanalysis is a powerful conceptual tool to untangle these issues and other aspects of the larger societal race-relations problem.

"The editors of this volume have assembled an impressive array of experts to deal with the problems in Black-Jewish relations....Their aim of offering practical remedies from a psychoanalytic perspective is more successful than any prior attempts I am familiar with....The volume deserves to be studied and will then undoubtedly contribute to further dialogue and reconciliation which is the editors' fervent and justifiable hope."-Paul H. Ornstein, M.D. Professor of Psychoanalysis, Department of Psychiatry University of Cincinnati, "This collection of essays brings to our attention the hidden dimensions of ethnic conflict and the frightening fantasies that pit neighbor against neighbor. Even those who are not card carrying members of one of the eclectic traditions of psychoanalytic theory represented in this book will gain insight into the limitations of the most compelling social structural analyses and best crafted policies. For those committed to a world safe from ethnic cleansing and the killing fields, the stakes demand no less. If Blacks and Jews cannot coexist, who will? And if principled and practical diversity will not prevail in the U.S., where else?"-Hillel Levine Sociologist and Historian Co-author of Death of an American Jewish Community: The Tragedy of Good Intentions, "This is a critically important and path-breaking book. By delving into the deeper meanings surrounding how African Americans and Jews view each other, Helmreich and Marcus have greatly enhanced our understanding of this subject. To date, we have seen a great deal about the historical, political, and sociological aspects of this relationship, but very little on the approach presented here. This invaluable collection of essays is must reading for all scholars and lay people interested in this topic."-Francis D. Terrell Professor of Political Science City College of New York, ?Helmreich and Marcus have compiled a fascinating addition to the burgeoning literature on black-Jewish relations, most of which is written from sociological, literary, or historical viewpoints. This book provides a pschoanalytic, motivational perspective on this troubled relationship and on intergroup conflict generally.?-Choice, ?The essays, in general, are very well done. This is an excellent book...?-Dimensions

ALAN HELMREICH was a freelance journalist specializing in Black-Jewish relations.PAUL MARCUS is a psychoanalyst in private practice and member of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. He is the author of Autonomy in the Extreme Situation, Bruno Bettelheim, The Nazi Concentration Camps and the Mass Society.