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Siegmund Hurwitz's background significantly includes C. G. Jung, Toni Wolff and MarieLouise von Franz. The study of Jewish mysticism has long been one of his major concerns-and preoccupations. Publication of papers in English and German have preceded this book. Lilith—The First Eve is the first comprehensive work on this subject, which extends from the earliest Eve-Lilith to her variants in our present time. Her meaning is illuminated, and the modern significance of this iridescent figure of Jewish mythology illustrated, by a compelling analysis of dreams and images occurring during the analysis of a young man. The object of this book, then, is to give access to the archetypal basis of the Lilith myth in order to promote, to further, and to facilitate the penetration of its psychological meanings and application.
Hurwitz does justice to the demands of an interdisciplinary scientific book. His merit lies in giving a detailed and comprehensive overview of the historical material, and of relating interpretation not only to man but also to woman, as he holds that an attempt to relate the psychological material to her has so far been totally missing. That view is no longer quite accurate, as M. T. Colonna, in her paper entitled ‘Lilith, or the black moon’, concerns herself with the Lilith aspect of woman's psyche and its importance for the fuller development of womanhood, which is also one of Hurwitz's main preoccupations (COLONNA 1).
Gratitude is expressed principally to G. Scholem in connection with Jewish mysticism and to C. G. Jung for his penetrating work on the structural elements of the psyche—the archetypes. Overwhelmingly compelling evidence for the characteristic feature of archetypes—universality—is most succinctly expressed by Hurwitz in the commentary on the chapter, ‘Lilith in legend’ (Volkslegende), in which he weighs the evidence for and against the origin of Lilith in Christian tradition, i.e., Greek-Byzantine and later Syrian, Ethiopian, South Slavonic an