C. G. Jung and Erich Neumann: The Zaddik, Sophia, and the Shekhinah

Abstract

Erich Neumann (1905–1961) was one of C. G. Jung's most brilliant and creative disciples. Publication in 2015 of the correspondence between Neumann and Jung—Analytical Psychology in Exile: The Correspondence of C. G. Jung and Erich Neumann—has opened new perspectives on the work of both men. Neumann stated that his encounter with Jung, initiated in 1933, was the transformative event in his life. He perceived Jung to be the living exemplar of a Zaddik. Eventually Neumann helped Jung better understand the mystical depths of Jewish tradition. Each man affirmed that the vital task awaiting the coming age was a re-valorization of the feminine archetype of divinity, traditionally identified both as Sophia and as the Shekhinah in Kabbalistic tradition.