ABSTRACT
It takes more than a degree of daring to apply the techniques of psychoanalytic interpretation to Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah. Kabbalah has nothing unique on this issue; it also extensively uses sexual images and metaphors. However, there is something novel in this body of literature that transcends the more common usage of erotic and sexual motifs. From the psychological point of view, certain problems become apparent immediately. While it is true that Kabbalistic writings, in common with other mystical literatures, express the relationship between the individual mystic and the Divine by means of erotic imagery, what is striking is that such imagery and metaphor should be used in Jewish mystical writings. The consolidation of the mature sexual identity is by no means a simple process, and it does not reach its culmination until sometime during the period of adolescence.
