Sigmund Freud – Hand Signed Autograph Letter, London, 1938 – Hebrew Translation of his Books, "Totem and Taboo" and ...

Sigmund Freud – Hand Signed Autograph Letter, London, 1938 – Hebrew Translation of his Books, "Totem and Taboo" and "Moses and Monotheism" – "This book is surely bound to offend Jewish sensibilities as long as they remain unwilling to accept the authority of science"

Letter handwritten and personally signed by Sigmund Freud, addressed to Yehuda Dvir, the earliest translator of his works into Hebrew. London, December 11, 1938. German.
The present letter was written just a few months after Sigmund Freud and his family had departed Vienna to flee the Nazis. It is written on official stationery, indicating Freud’s new residential address in London, no. 20 Maresfield Gardens.
The letter is addressed to the educator and author Yehuda Dvir (Dvosis; 1896-1971), the first person to translate Freud’s works into Hebrew. At the beginning of the letter, Freud relates to the upcoming publication of the Hebrew edition of his book "Totem and Taboo": "…I received the printed copy, but regretfully I do not speak Hebrew… As to your question regarding the meaning of the mysterious statement which appears there, my response is that it represents a question: In what form did our common tradition as Jews come to be preserved in our psychic beings; a difficult question, and entirely theoretical."
Further on in the letter, Freud writes about his last great work, "Moses and Monotheism" – which he eventually published at the at the age of 82, during his time in exile in London in 1939 – in which he took issue with the fundamental assumptions of the Jewish faith, expressed his thoughts regarding the origins of anti-Semitism and Jewish tradition, and proposed a historical conception of Moses as a figure, who, in his view, should be regarded as the scion of an aristocratic Egyptian family. Freud writes as follows: "My next book, ‘Moses and Monotheism, ’ is scheduled to be published at the beginning of the year in English and German. I will obviously derive great satisfaction if it were also to be translated into Hebrew. This book represents a sequel to the subject addressed in ‘Totem and Taboo, ’ insofar as the same [concepts] are applied to the history of the Jewish faith. Nevertheless, I beg you to take into account that the content of this book is surely bound to offend Jewish sensibilities as long as they remain unwilling to accept the authority of science. In gratitude, my heartfelt greetings – Yours, Sigmund Freud" (based on the Hebrew translation of the German, from: "Sigmund Freud, Letters, " translation by Eran Rolnik, Moshav Ben Shemen: Modan, 2019).

[1] leaf, official stationery, 28.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Creases and minor wear. Slight tears to edges.