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    The year 1840 was a turning point: the Industrial Revolution peaked, the Damascus Affair sparked Jewish unity, and modernity opened new paths for enlightenment. Mystics called it the moment that “the gates of wisdom would open.” For us, 1840 is a symbol of how global upheaval can lead to a reimagined world. Today, we face another “1840 moment”—troubled by tech disruption, mental health crises, and declining faith—that calls for bold questions, timeless sensitivity, and modern sensibilities. That’s what 18Forty is here to explore.

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Home / Topics / Good Enough Elul

Good Enough Elul

Most of what shapes you, you can’t see.

  • Podcasts

    Mendel Horowitz: A Good Enough Elul

    We talk to Mendel Horowitz, who introduces us to the notion of having a “good-enough Elul.”  

  • Essays

    I’m a Psychodynamic Therapist. Here’s What That Means.

    Often, when I tell people I’m a therapist, they assume I offer practical…

    Mendel Horowitz
    I’m a Psychodynamic Therapist. Here’s What That Means.
  • Essays

    Good Enough Elul: What This Is and Is Not

    A New Approach to Elul This is not a guide to teshuva, an…

    Mendel Horowitz
    Good Enough Elul: What This Is and Is Not
  • Essays

    Day 21: Repetition Compulsion

    In Theory: One of Sigmund Freud’s most enduring clinical observations is that patterns…

    Mendel Horowitz
    Day 21: Repetition Compulsion

articles

Day 21: Repetition Compulsion

What repeats is not yet complete.

articles

Day 20: The True & False Self

What happens afterward happened before.

articles

Day 19: Afterwardsness

What happens afterward happened before.

articles

Day 18: Rupture & Repair

What is interrupted can be resumed.

articles

Day 17: Enactment

What is lost becomes what is found.

articles

Day 16: Mirroring

What you show me is what I see.

articles

Day 15: Countertransference

What was between others is between us.

articles

Day 14: Transference

What is between us was between others.

articles

Day 13: Intersubjectivity

What unfolds between two belongs to neither.

articles

Day 12: Resistance

What is kept out finds its way in.

articles

Day 11: Splitting

What cannot be held together is kept apart.

articles

Day 10: Defense Mechanisms

What threatens to hurt is protected against.

articles

Day 9: Shame & Guilt

What is felt as heavy is what cannot be shared.

articles

Day 8: Internalization

What is repeatedly heard is what resounds inside.

articles

Day 7: Attachment

What is needed early becomes what is later sought.

articles

Day 6: Free Association

What appears without direction is the most revealing.

articles

Day 5: The Therapist’s Neutrality

What is not asked for leaves room for what is there.

articles

Day 4: The Holding Environment

What a setting provides shapes what forms within it.

articles

Day 3: Early Relationships

What is provided first becomes what is later expected.

articles

Day 2: The Therapeutic Frame

What holds steady makes what is unsteady possible.

articles

Day 1: The Unconscious

What returns without invitation was never fully gone.

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY AND LEGACY OF PHILIP EICHEN, EPHRAIM FISHEL BEN MORDECHAI Z”L AND ROSLYN EICHEN, RAZEL BAT GERSHON, Z”L

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