ABSTRACT
The psychological situation of the ancient Jews has a modern parallel, the need for individuation. In the Book of Exodus, Moses demonstrates the prophetic power of the individual, whose ego-stability allows him to confront YHWH on Sinai and punish the Bnei Israel for their regression in worshiping the Golden Calf. Surrounded by nature-worship in nearby cultures, the ancient Jewish people were strongly tied to the earth. Unlike the eternal repetition of fertility cults, in birth, death, and rebirth, YHWH’s interventions were irruptive, violent, reversing expectation. The Great Mother, against whom the prophets continually warned, was vigorously repressed; but she remained a force within the ancient Jewish unconscious, in participation mystique with the earth. Prophetic themes of chosenness and apostasy reflect the struggle between the numinosity of spirit and the pull toward earth-worship. YHWH, the God of distance and reversal, rules over nature, including human fertility, bringing power out of powerlessness, a paradoxical revelation accepted only at times of great need and historical change. Even prophets struggle against this revelation, because the voice of YHWH is ego-alien, arising from the collective unconscious. Genuine prophets relate to YHWH as individuals and partners. Their ego-strength anticipates the role of the tzaddik in Hasidism.
