A Comparative Psychological Study of Religious and Non-religious Jews in Israel

Maimonides, the great Jewish philosopher, pointed out that originally man was so created that the desire to perform G-d's mitzvos was a basic drive in his nature, just as the craving for food, drink and sleep however this became no longer clear to him. Though religious faith and practice are vitally essential to a Jew and to his attainment of a satisfying life, he does not always feel this. To satisfy his basic religious needs he requires a special effort of will.To a psychologist, especially a Jewish psychologist, these words pose a deep challenge and there was a need to clarify at least some of this empirically.This was my Master's Thesis, done several decades ago.