Marx and Freud as Talmudic scholars?

Quite a few years ago, in an article in National Geographic, a honcho in (IIRC) the Lubavitcher community commented off-handedly that Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Albert Einstein could have been three of the greatest Talmudic scholars ever.

Not so sure his bent would have taken Einstein down that path, but the other two, I could see. So the proposition before us is twofold:

• What would it have taken to cause Marx and Freud to pursue Talmudic studies rather than economics/political theory and medicine, respectively?
• What would have been the implications thereof?
 

NothingNow

Banned
Could've but it's extremely unlikely, since all three were German Jews, from very secular, well integrated communities. Hell, Marx's father became a Lutheran before his birth, and his mother was a semi-literate Dutch Jew. That's not a good mix for a Talmudic Scholar, despite both grandfathers having been Rabbis.

Maybe as a side gig for someone like Marx (if raised as a Jew, in a Rabbinical and Lawyerly household, since all three dovetail wonderfully,) it could've been seriously influential, but that's it.
 
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