Arthur A. Feldman, who died in 1941, describes the results of his profound research work concerning the development of Jewish religion. The paper quotes Freud's Moses and Monotheism confirmatorily as well as critically, but Feldman's main thesis of the importance of disguised relics of the Astarte cult in Judaism is entirely independent of Freud.

According to Feldman, three stages must be distinguished from one another: 'The religion of Israel, the first stage of Israelitish religion, followed the religious pattern of the ancient Near East, in myth, belief, and ritual. It had mainly to do with cravings and longings in the relationship of mother and child and was basically interwoven with totemism. The mother-goddess and her son-consort were worshipped in the shrines and sanctuaries of pre-exilic Judaism by different names but in the same manner. One of the most favored names of the