Judaism, a monotheistic religion, and Jewish identity, a subjective culture and experience, are part and parcel of the history of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856, in Freiberg. His father, Jakob Freud, still mourning the death of his own father, Rabbi Schlomo, gave his son the Jewish name Schlomo and the Christian name Sigmund, later changed to Sigismund for a short time. Freud was partly reared by a catholic nanny, Monica Zadjic. He experienced his first exile at the age of three, when the family left Moravia for Vienna. Jakob taught him to read the family Bible, which he continued to read in Jewish primary school and later in the gymnasium. Freud continued to see his Hebrew teacher, Samuel Hammerschlag, until the latter's death.

Unlike the family of his wife, Martha, Freud's family neglected religious practices but respected traditions, particularly the principal holidays of Jewish life. Freud was...