Carl Jung & the Jewish Mystical Tradition

The Lonely Man of Faith by Rabbi Professor Soloveitchik is the most important work of Jewish philosophy in the second half of the 20th century.  His reflections on the two facets of the human condition mirror Jung’s comments on his number 1 and number 2 personalities, and the on-going tension between them. In this talk we will examine some of the ways in which Jung was influenced by the Kabbalah, and the unity of the opposites as articulated in the Chassidic tradition, including the notion that evil (the sitra ahra and the yezter hara) also originate from the Divine, rather than operating as an externalized figure. The clinical implications of balancing the tension of the opposites (what Jung referred to as the transcendent function), will be explored in relationship to the individuation process as reflected in the biography of the biblical figure of Jacob, as well as the story of Joseph, Judaism’s quintessential wounded healer.