No signs of an attachment to a mother goddess are manifest in Jewish tradition. This is explained by a displacement of the libidinous cathexis from the mother to the land. The bridge between the conceptions 'mother' and of 'land' was formed by the worship of sacred places. Prophets who were 'patriarchally' inclined were opposed to such worships, but were not very successful until the great reforms under Joshua, 'under the ægis of the newly found book of Deuteronomy'. The prophetic leaders 'ultimately persuaded the whole people to direct their libido not towards a limited locale but towards the all embracing land itself'. The maternal significance of the land explains many trends of 'threshold magic' and 'threshold sacrifices' in the Jewish ritual. A certain antagonism between fear of God and love for the land continues. The modern increase of atheism corresponds to the development of Zionism.