This episode is strikingly different than others in the series in that it represents an effort to understand the perspective of a scriptural narrative known to traditional Jews from their childhood by a system inimical to Jewish thought and tradition. It is stressed that this perspective is not representative of the view of IDT, of The Yeshiva of Newark, or of Dr. Juni. Designed to present solely the Freudian perspective, it does not inform the “Standing between Two Worlds” motif of the series. Nonetheless, this episode highlights the challenge faced by Traditional Jewish Scientists who have allegiance to a system which – if accepted in totality – is antithetical to their very own religious weltanschauung. Hence, the role-play format of this episode, in contrast to the standard interview/discussion of the series. With Rabbi Kivelevitz taking the fantasied role of Joseph, the two butlers, and Pharaoh, respectively, Prof. Juni (in the role of a Freudian analyst who stands solidly in one world only) finds themes of familial, self-referenced, and interpersonal conflicts which might shed light on the source of the dream content. Prof. Juni stresses that such themes are part and parcel of the unconscious life of every single child, and their derivative content is commonly found in all dreams and fantasies, but that they only find expression in actual behavior among disturbed individuals. The challenge for religious traditionalists, as Juni sees it, is to determine which aspects of such a position can be accepted as unconscious motifs without undermining our shared belief in the sublime prophetic nature of prophetic personalities and biblical narrative.

Doctor Samuel Juni is one of the foremost researchpsychologists in the world today. He has published groundbreaking original research in seventy different peer reviewed journals and is cited continuously with respect by colleagues and experts in the field who have built on histheories and observations.

 Samuel Juni studied in Yeshivas Chaim Berlin under Rav Yitzchack Hutner, and in Yeshiva University as a Talmid of Rav Joseph DovSoloveitchick. 

Professor Juni is a board member of the Association of Orthodox JewishScientists and has regularly presented addresses to captivated audiences.Associated with NYU since 1979, Juni has served as Director of MA and PhD programs, all the while heading teams engaged in cutting-edge research.Professor Juni's scholarship on aberrant behavior across the cultural, ethnic,and religious spectrum is founded on psychometric methodology and based on apsycho-dynamic psychopathology perspective. He is arguably the preeminent expert in Differential Diagnostics, with each of his myriad studies entailing parallel efforts in theory construction and empirical data collection fromnormative and clinical populations.

 Professor Juni created and directed the NYUGraduate Program in Tel Aviv titled Cross-Cultural Group Dynamics in StressfulEnvironments. Based in Yerushalayim, he collaborates with Israeli academic andmental health specialists in the study of dissonant factors and tensions in theArab-Israeli conflict and those within the Orthodox Jewish community, while exploring personality challenges of second-generation Holocaust survivors.

Below is a partial list of the journals to which Professor Juni has contributed over 120 articles; many are available online: 

Journal of Forensic Psychology; Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma;International Review of Victimology; The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease;International Forum of Psychoanalysis; Journal of Personality Assessment; Journal of AbnormalPsychology; Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology; Psychophysiology; Psychologyand Human Development; Journal of Sex Research; Journal of Psychology andJudaism; Contemporary Family Therapy; American Journal on Addictions; Journalof Criminal Psychology; Mental Health, Religion, and Culture. 

As Rosh Beis Medrash, Rabbi Avraham Kivelevitzserves as Rav and Posek for the morning minyan at IDT. Hundreds of listener around the globe look forward to his weekly Shiur in Tshuvos and Poskim. 

Rav Kivelevitz is a Maggid Shiur for Dirshu International in Talmud and Halacha as well as a Dayan with the Beth Din of America. 

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