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Understanding the Israeli psyche




The Hero and His Shadow 
Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel

now available on Kindle ($9.99)


The Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan broke out on June 5, 1967, after Egypt had mobilized along the Israeli border, closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, and Israel was threatened by invasion of Arab forces. After a sweeping victory, Israel came to occupy large neighboring areas, but has since withdrawn from Sinai, Gaza and 40% of the West Bank. However, as victorious as Israel was, relieving the deadly threat, led by then Chief-of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, the prolonged occupation of territory in Judea and Samaria/the West Bank, is detrimental not only to the Palestinians, but to Israeli society as well.

The release of tension resulted in years of denial and inflation, as for instance expressed in the infamous words of General Shmuel Gonen (Gorodish), “We looked Death straight in the eye, and Death lowered its gaze,” (The Hero and His Shadow, p. 20), which crashed into the Yom Kippur War six years later.




 Contents

Preface       The Beggar in the Hero’s Shadow      
Chapter 1    Return to the Source               
Chapter 2    From My Notebook             
Chapter 3    From Dream to Reality             
Chapter 4    Origins and Myths             
Chapter 5    From Redemption to Shadow         
Chapter 6    Wholeness Apart               
Chapter 7    Myth, Shadow and Projection      
Chapter 8    A Crack in the Mask          
Chapter 9    The Death of the Mythical and the Voice of the Soul



Dedication of The Hero and His Shadow

I dedicate this book to those, all too many, whose voices were silenced by man’s evil.
   I dedicate it to those, all too few, who raise their voice against fascism, who speak up in the struggle for peace and reconciliation, especially between Palestinians and Israelis, incessantly on the verge of yet another cycle of violence and hostilities.
   I dedicate it to those who try to hold the vulnerable balance in that ultimate conflict of Abraham between Father and Son, divine and human, idea and implementation, past and future, ego and self.
   I dedicate this book to the daughters and the sons whose future is endangered.




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