The Mystical Hebrew Alphabet as a Path to Individuation

Presented By Rabbi Mel Gottlieb, Ph.D. 

In an interview, Jung said: “But do you know who anticipated my entire psychology in the 18th century? The Hasidic Rabbi Baer from Meseritz, whom they called the Great Maggid. He was a most impressive man.” The ancient Sages/Kabbalists deepened the mysteries of the Letters, by analyzing their shapes and sounds in addition to their associative meanings and imaginations. The alphabet as a whole creates a path toward spiritual growth, consciousness, and individuation as Jung defines it. This presentation will show that the ancient Hebrew Kabbalistic/Hasidic Sages had a similar insight into the Jungian journey toward individuation that we must all make in order to actualize our uniqueness and find wholeness.

Rabbi Mel Gottlieb, Ph.D, L.C.S.W., is in private practice in Los Angeles, and also serves as the president of the Academy for Jewish Religion, where he lectures on Kabbalah, Hasidism, and psycho-spiritual dimensions of the Bible at the Academy. Mel has been a faculty member at Columbia University School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, USC School of Social Work, and Pacifica Graduate Institute. At Pacifica he has taught myth, literature and religious studies, esoteric traditions, Freud’s depth psychology, and theoretical foundations of psychotherapy. In addition to serving as Hillel Director at M.I.T. and Princeton University, he has held several rabbinic positions in Los Angeles. His recent publications include The Hebrew Letters, in Illuminating Letters, edited by Elizabeth Fergus-Jean, 2008, and Mussar: A Jewish Psychoethical Model for Our Time, in Conversations: The Journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals, vol. 8, Autumn, 2010.