When the Womb Becomes a Tomb: Rectifying the Archetype of the Devouring Mother

Points to Ponder #13 Shemot | Translated by Leah Hartman

A nation is much like a person, and as such, needs a womb in which to grow. 

The womb of the Nation of Israel was Egypt. The Israelites entered it as a family numbering 70 souls, like a “seed”; they were fruitful and multiplied, like cells dividing and multiplying; and they left Egypt a great Nation numbering twelve tribes, like a fully developed fetus possessing all of its organs. The Exodus from Egypt at the Splitting of the Sea even recalls childbirth (following ten `birth pangs’, i.e., the Ten Plagues).

Egypt as Devouring Mother

Jungian psychology sees the symbols and images that appear in stories and myths as reflections of “archetypes”, fundamental patterns and structures that are embedded in our psyches and shape our inner world. In Jungian terms, the image of Egypt as a protective womb, prior to the onset of slavery, would be seen as an expression of the archetype of the “Great Mother.”

But, just as pregnancies can at times experience complications, so too the “Great Mother” can turn hostile. Enter the “Devouring  Mother”, an archetype of destructive femininity that desires to pull us backward and stifle our development. 

In fairy tales, the Devouring Mother is the evil stepmother who confines her stepdaughter in the home, the witch who imprisons children in her cabin, or the monster who rises up from the depths in order to swallow the protagonists. In real life, she is the mother who keeps her child tied to her apron strings, the teacher who crushes her student’s hopes, or the harmful circle of friends who convinces you that you have nothing to seek outside of it. In these situations, rather than the womb being a space that nurtures us into our future, it becomes a tomb that buries us in the past.

This is exactly what happens in our story: Egypt turns on the Isaraelites, transforming from a nurturing mother who nourishes them into a malevolent one who hinders their development. 

The fact that Egypt is the embodiment of negative motherhood is clearly expressed in Pharaoh's orders to slay the male Israelite children and allow only the female ones to live. Pharaoh wants to drown the masculine element within us, that which breaks forth, rebels, and charts new paths. This is exactly how the Devouring Mother schemes to ensure that we remain chained to her forever.

“In the Merit of Righteous Women”: The Birth of Jewish Womanhood

On the surface, it may seem that the solution lies solely in the strengthening of the male element: nurturing a strong masculinity that can rebel against the mother and break out of her magic circle. Indeed, the central figures who redeem us from Egypt are three men: Moses, his brother Aaron, and alongside them we can add Nachshon ben Aminadav, the first one to jump into the Red Sea, triggering its splitting in two.

But this male element is not enough. It is too much the antithesis of negative motherhood, too much its polar opposite. The two are like matter and antimatter, destined to destroy one another upon collision (Or, if you will, mother and antimother, a fitting pun considering that both ‘matter’ and ‘mother’ are rooted in the same Latin word, mater). In addition, our goal is not to replace femininity with masculinity, but to balance the two.

In other words, the rectification of negative femininity is not only masculinity, but positive femininity. This is where the women of this parashah (weekly Torah portion) enter into the picture: the midwives Shifra and Puah, followed by the mother and daughter team Yocheved and Miriam. According to the straightforward reading of the text, these are four different women; but according to the Jewish Sages they are a single pair — Shifra is Yocheved and Puah is Miriam. Moreover, according to one Rabbinical opinion, Puah is Elisheva, Aaron's wife, and incidentally also the sister of Nachshon ben Aminadav. In short, the women of the parashah are none other than those who stand behind and beside Moses, Aaron, and Nachshon — the female side of Israel’s future redeemers.

The women of the parashah embody a positive motherhood that rectifies the negative motherhood of Egypt. We see this in the way they treat their children: not only do they make space for them and accept them, they also engage in birthing them into adulthood, preparing them to step out into the world to fulfill their destiny. The midwives Shifrah and Puah pacify the children, but also prepare them for life; Yocheved and Miriam hide Moses as much as they can, but also send him floating off into the unknown. By raising the three redeemers, these women cultivate the male element rather than suppress it. They also take the first step in pushing the entire nation of Israel out from the slavery of Egypt and into a life of freedom.

In Every Generation

The Devouring Mother archetype is very much alive and well in today’s culture, and once again threatens to drown the masculine element, within men and women alike. It is a culture that speaks loftily of mercy, compassion, and inclusivity, but is actually quite harmful: by encouraging us to only love and accept ourselves for who we are, never demand anything of ourselves, it leaves us in an immature developmental stage, characterized by self-pity and victimhood.

Today, as then, facing a culture of excessive and debilitating compassion, we must work on two fronts. On the one hand, we must restore masculinity to its former glory — redeem and strengthen the masculine element in our culture, a masculinity that is not powerful but not overpowering, in which people take their lives in their own two hands and take responsibility for themselves and those around them. 

But on the other hand, we must also cultivate a balanced femininity, one that accepts us for who we are but also demands that we become better; a motherhood that encourages people to emerge from the nest of their childhood and learn to fly. 

The rectification of the Devouring Mother is hinted at in the Hebrew word for “womb”, rechem (רחם). When read backwards, this word becomes machar (מחר), meaning “tomorrow”. This suggests that, although the womb’s main purpose is to grow and protect the fetus in the present, its ultimate goal is to birth it into the future.