Lilith, Adam 1st Wife

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LILITH,

The First Wife of Adam?! (1)

Presentation

Prof. Dr. Mr. Maqsood hasni

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CONTENTS

Bibliography of LIliTh 3

Fiction, Poetry and Art based on Lilith 13

Who is Lilith? 17

Lilith Bibliography 18

Lilith 19

LILITH the First Wife of Adam? 51

A Modern Development: Images of Lilith in Literature, Art, andArtifacts 51

Lilith, Mother of Witches 62

Women, Religion and the Devil Incarnate 72

Lilith, Adam's mythological first wife 83

LILITH - THE FIRST EVE 90Lilith's Children 102Lilith is much, much more 108Red Hair Facts 111Lilith 113A Globally- RECOGNIZATION LILITH 117Lilith 120Lilith 128Lilith: Adam's first wife 132Looking for Lilith149Lilith, Woman's Encyclopedia 162Lilith, Woman's Encyclopedia 167Liliths Daughters169Lilith, the first wife of Adam?196Who is the true Lilith 202

Lilith 202A Real Lilith 213Lilith,An ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamian fertility goddess 219

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bibliography of LIliTh

The original version of this bibliography was put together byThomas R. W. Longstaff ([email protected]),

drawing partly from responses to a query on the

ioudaios discussion group ([email protected]). Ihave formatted it for the Web. In addition to

bibliography, some of the original respondants alsosent comments and suggestions which I have included.

I have also merged inAlejandro Gonzalez's

bibliography. In addition to these sources, I have addeda good deal of material myself over the last year or so.

If you don't see something that you think should behere, please bring it to my attention.[AH]

Abarbanel, Nitzah. Eve and Lilith [*Havah ve-Lilit*], Bene-Brak: Bar-

Ilan University Press. 1994.

Ahrens, W. Hebrische Amulette mit magischen Zahlenquadraten.Berlin, 1916.

Bacher, Wilhelm. "Lilith, Knigin von Smargad", Monatschrift frGeschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenstums 19 (1870): 187-189.Breslau.

Bailey, Lloyd R. Biblical Perspectives on Death. Overtures to Biblical

Theology, 5, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. Baring, Anne &Cashford, Jules. The Myth of the Goddess: evolution of an image.London: New York, N.Y., Arkana, 1993.

Baumgarten, Joseph M. Revue de Qumran (1992):

Boyle, Darl MacLeod, Where Lilith Dances. New Haven:Yale, 1971(1921)

Bril, Jacques. Lilith, ou, La Mre Obscure. Paris: Payot, 1981.

Bitton, Michele. "Le mythe juif de Lilith [microform]: de la feminitedemoniaque au feminisme." Doctoral dissertation (Universite deProvence, Aix en Provence), 1988.

Budge, E.A. Wallis.Amulets and Superstitions, Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 1930. [pp. 212-238, 283-4.]

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Cantor, Aviva. "The Lilith Question." Lilith 1 (1976): (Also: In On Beinga Jewish Feminist: A Reader, ed. Susannah Heschel. New York:Schocken Books, 1983.)

Cavendish, Richard. The Powers of Evil in Western Religion, Magic, and

Folk Belief. New York: Putnam, 1975.

Chadourne, Marc. Dieu crea d'abord Lilith. Paris: Fayard, 1938.

Colonna, M. T.. Lilith e la luna nera e l'eros rifutato, Florence, 1980.

Colonna, M.T. "Lilith, or the Black Moon."Journal of AnalyticalPsychology, Oct 1980: 325-50.

Corelli, Marie. The Soul of Lilith. New York: Lovell, Coryell & Co., 1892.

Couchaux, Brigitte. "Lilith." In Brunel, Pierre, Dictionnaire des MythsLittraires. Paris: ditions du Rocher, 1988.[English tr.: Companion to Literary Myths, Heroes and Archetypes,London and New York: Routledge, 1992].

Creuzer. Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Vlker, besonders derGriechen, Leipzig and Darmstad, 1840/1. (reprinted: Hildesheim,Zrich and New York, 1990.)

Dan, Joseph. The Hebrew Story in the Middle Ages. Jerusalem, 1974.

---. "Samael, Lillith and the Concept of Evil in the Early Kabbalah".AJSreview5 (1980): 17-40.

Dan, Joseph and Kiener, Ronald. "Treatise on the Left Emanation (byIsaac b. Jacob ha-Kohen". In The Early Kabbalah. New York: PaulistPress, 1986: 165-182.

Dijkstra, Bram. Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-JSiecle Culture. New York: Oxford U. Press, 1986.

Edwardes, Allen. The Jewel in the Lotus: A Historical Survey of theSexual Culture of the East. New York: Julian Press, 1962.

Eisenstadt, J. D., ed. Ozar Midrashim. Israel, n.d.

"Lilith". Encyclopaedia Biblica eds. Cheyne & Sutherland, London,1902.

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Farber, Walter, ed. Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlaf! Mesopatamische Baby-Beschwrungen und -Rituale. Mesopotamian Civilizations, 2. WinonaLake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1989.

Farrar, Janet & Stewart. The Witches' Goddess: the feminine principle

of divinity. London: Robert Hale, 1995.

Frankfort, Henri. "The Burney Relief."AfO 12 (1937). Pp. 128-35.

Gaster, Moses. "Beitrge zur vergleichende Sagen- und Mrchenkunde.X. Lilith und die drei Angel", Monatschrift fr Geschichte undWissenschaft des Judenstum 29 (1880): 553-565. Breslau.

---. "Two Thousand Years of a Charm against the Child-StealingWitch." Folk-Lore 11 (1900): 129-161.

---. Ma'aseh Book2 vols. Philadelphia, 1934.

Gaster, Theodor Herzl. "A Canaanite Magical Text." Orientalia, 11.Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1942. Pp. 41-79.

---. The Dead Sea Scriptures, in English Translation. Garden City, NY:Anchor Press, 1976. Pp. 371-373, 504.

Geller, Markham J. "Eight Incantation Bowls." Orientalia lovaniensiaperiodica, 17. Leuven, Instituut voor Orientalistiek, 1986. Pp. 101-17.

Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews. Translated by HenriettaSzold, Paul Radin and Boaz Cohen. Philadelphia: The JewishPublication Society of America, 1909-1938. [I: 65; V: 87 ss, 147-8;VI: 289] (also: New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956.)

Gonzalo Rubio, Concepcin. La angeologa en la literatura ab nica ysefard, Barcelona: Ameller, 1977. [Pp. 25, 50-52, 54-55.]

Gordon, Cyrus H. "Aramaic Magical Bowls in the Istanbul and BahgdadMuseums."Archiv Orientln, 6 (1934): 319-34. Praha.

Gottleib, Rabbi Lynn. "The First Tale." In Taking the Fruit: ModernWomen's Tales of the East, ed. Janes Sprague Zones. 17-21. SanDiego: Woman's Institute for Continuing Jewish Education, 1989.

Gourmont, Remy de. Lilith suivi de Theodat. Paris: Societe du Mercurede France, 1906.

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Gravelaine, Joelle de. Le retour de Lilith: la lune noire. Paris: L'Espacebleu/Hachette, 1985.

Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. New York: Penguin Books, 1960.

Graves, Robert and Raphael Patai. Hebrew Myths: The Book ofGenesis. Garden City: Doubleday, 1964.[Spanish tr.: Los mitos hebreos. Tr. y Luis Echvarri. Madrid: Alianza,1986.]

Gustafson, Fred. The Black Madonna. Boston: Sigo Press, 1990.

Handy, Lowell K. "Lilith".Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York:Doubleday, 1992. Vol. 4, p. 324f.

Heschel, Susannah, ed. On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader. NewYork: Schocken Books, 1983.

Hufford, David. The terror that comes in the night : an experience-centered study of supernatural assault traditions. Philadelphia :University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

Hurwitz, Siegmund. Lilith, die erste Eva: eine Studie uber dunkleAspekte des Wieblichen. Zurich: Daimon Verlag, 1980, 1993.[English tr.: Lilith, the First Eve: Historical and Psychological Aspectsof the Dark Feminine. Translated by Gela Jacobson. Einsiedeln,

Switzerland: Daimon Verlag, 1992.] [ISBN: 3-85630-545-9]Isbell, Charles D. Corpus of the Aramaic Incantation Bowls. SBLDissertation Series, No. 17, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975.

Killen, A. M. "La lgende de Lilith", Revue de littrature compare 12(1932): 277-311.

Koltuv, Barbara Black. The Book of Lilith. York Beach, ME: Nicolas-Hays, 1986.

Kraeling, Emil Gottlieb Heinrich. "A Unique Babylonian Relief."BASPR,67 (1937). Pp. 16-18.

Krmer, K. "Babylonisches Gut in syrischen Zaubertexten."Mitteilungen der Altorientalischen Gesellschaft4 (1928/9): 110-4.

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Kramer, Samuel Noah. "Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree: Areconstructed Sumerian Text."Assyriological Studies of the OrientalInstitute of the University of Chicago 10. Chicago: 1938.

Krappe, A. H. "The Birth of Eve." In Occident and Orient: Gaster

Anniversary Volume, ed. B. Schindler. 312-322. London: Taylor'sForeign Press, 1936.

Lacks, Roslyn. Women and Judaism: myth, history, and struggle.Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.

Lambert, W. L. (G.?). "Inscribed Pazuzu Heads from Babylon."Forschungen und Berichte 10. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1958. Pp. 41-47

Lassner, Jacob. Demonizing the Queen of Sheba. Boundaries ofGender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam,Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Levi, Israel. "Lilit et Lilin." REJ, 68 (1914):15-21.

Levi, Primo. Lilit e altri racconti, Turn, 1981.[Spanish tr.: Lilit y otros relatos, Barcelona: Pennsula, 1989]

Martinez, Florentino Garcia. The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated. 1996.

Matt, Daniel Chanan. Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment. New York:Paulist Press, 1983.

Meissner, Bruno. Babylonien und Assyrien. Heidelberg, C. Winter,1920-25.

Milgrom, J. "Some Second Thoughts About Adam's First Wife." InGenesis 1-3 in the History of Exegesis, ed. G. Robbins. Lewiston, ME:Edwin Mellen, 1988.

Montgomery, James Alan.Aramaic incantation texts from Nippur.

University of Pennsylvania. The Museum. Publications of theBabylonian section, vol. 3. Philadelphia, University museum, 1913.

---. "Some Early Amulets from Palestine."JOAS, 31 (1911): 272-81.

Naveh, Joseph and Paul Shaked.Amulets and Magic Bowls: AramaicIncantations of Late Antiquity. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985.

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Nitzan, Bilhah. Qumran prayer and religious poetry. Leiden: E. J. Brill,1994.

Opitz, Dietrich. "Ausgrabungen und Forschungsreisen: Ur."AfO 8(1932). Pp. 328-31.

Paglia, Camille. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti toEmily Dickinson. New York: Vintage, 1991.

Patai, Raphael.Adam ve-Adama [Man and Earth]. Jerusalem: TheHebrew Press Association, 1941-1942.

---. Gates to the Old City. Detroit: Wayne State Universtiy Press,1981.

---. The Hebrew Goddess. Third Enlarged edition. New York: KTAVPublishing House, 1978. (Also: Wayne State University Press, 1990.)

Pirani, Alix, ed. The Absent Mother: Restoring the Goddess to Judaismand Christianity.

Plaskow, Judith. "The Coming of Lilith: Toward a Feminist Theology."In Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, ed. JudithPlaskow and Carol Christ. New York: Harper and Row, 1979a.

Pritchard, James B., ed.Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old

Testament. Princeton, New Jersy: Princeton Universit5y Press, 1969.P. 658.

Rappoport, Angelo S. Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, with anIntroduction and Additional Notes by Raphael Patai, 3 vols. New York:Ktav, 1966. (Reprinted: London: Senate, 1995, 2 vols; I: 77-79.)

Redgrove, Peter. The Black Goddess and the Sixth Sense. Bloomsbury,1987. (Also Paladin, 1989.)

Ribichini, Sergio. "Lilith nell-albero Huluppu."Atti del l ConvegnoItaliano sul Vicino Oriente Antico (Roma, 22-24 Aprile 1976). OrientisAntiqvi Collectio 13. Rome. Pp. 25-33.

Rigney, Barbara Hill. Lilith's Daughters: Women and Religion inContemporary Fiction. Madison: U of Wisconsin, 1982.

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Schfer, P. "Jewish Magic in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages."Journal of Semitic Studies 41 (1990): 75-91.

Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. Jerusalem, 1974.[Spanish tr.: Grandes temas y personalidades de la Cbala, Barcelona:

Riopiedras, 1994.]

---. "Lilith." In Encyclopedia Judaica. Jerusalem, 1972. Pp. 245-249.

Schrire, Theodore. Hebrew Amulets, London: Routledge & K. Paul,1966.

Schorr, O.H. "Malachim, Shedim Umazzikim." HeXaluz, 7 (1865): 16-22. (8 (1869): 3-16) Frankfort.

Schwartz, Howard. Lillith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

---. "Mermaid and Siren: The Polar Roles of Lilith and Eve in JewishLore". The Sagarin Review, Vol. 2, 1992, pp. 105-116.

Scot, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft. New York: Da CapoPress, 1971.

Schaafsma, Karen. "The Demon Lover: Lilith and the Hero in ModernFantasy." Exrapolation Spring 1987 Vol. 28, No. 1.

Selbie, John A. "Lilith." In Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hastingand John A. Selbie. Edinborough/New York: Scribners & sons, 1909.

Starck, Marcia & Stern, Gynne. The Dark Goddess: dancing with theshadow. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1993.

Stern, David and Mirsky, Mark Jay. Rabbinic Fantasies: ImaginativeNarratives from Classical Hebrew Literature. Philadelphia, JewishPublication Society, 1990. Pp. 183-184.

Torczyner, H. "A Hebrew Incantation against Night-Demons fromBiblical Times."JNES 6 (1947). Pp. 18-29.

Trachtenberg, Joshua.Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study of FolkReligion. New York: Atheneum, 1982. (Also: New York: Meridia Books,1961.) Orig. published 1939.

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Waite, Arthur Edward. The Holy Kabbalah : A Study Of The SecretTradition In Israel As Unfolded By Sons Of The Doctrine For TheBenefit And Consolation Of The Elect Dispersed Through The LandsAnd Ages Of The Greater Exile. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1976.

Wolkstein, Diane and Kramer, Samuel Noah. Inanna: Queen of Heavenand Earth. Harper & Row, NY, 1983.

Yassif, Eli. "Pseudo Ben Sira and the 'Wisdom Questions': Tradition inthe Middle Ages." Fabula 23 (1982): 48-63.

---. Sippurey ben Sira be-yame ha Binayyim [The Tales of Ben Sira inthe Middle Ages]. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984.

Zoller, Israel. Lilith. Rome, 1926. (Reprinnt from Revista diAntropologia 27).

---. "Lilith." Filologische Schriften, 3 (1929): 121-42.

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Fiction, Poetry and Art based onLilith

Or in which she plays a major role

Anthony, Piers. Incarnations of Immortality. A series of novels whichinclude: On a Pale Horse, Bearing an Hourglass, With a Tangled Skein,Weilding a Red Sword, Being a Green Mother, For the Love of Evil, ...And Eternity.

Dame, Enid. Lilith and Her Demons. Merrick, NY: Cross-CulturalCommunications, 1986.

Gourmont, Remy de. Lilith. Paris, 1892.[E.t.: Heard, John, tr, Lilith, a Play. Boston: John W. Luce Co., 1945.]

Heeley, David Anthony (1971-). Lilith. First ofDarkness and Lighttrilogy. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.

Le Compte, Eduard. I, Eve. New York: Atheneum, 1988.

McDonald, George. Visionary Novels: Lilith, Phantasies. New York:Noonday Press, 1954.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. "Lilith. For a Picture", in Poems, London: Dent,Everyman's Library, 1961.

Shaw, Bernard, (1856-1950). Back to Methuselah. A metabiologicalpentateuch. London: Constable and company ltd., 1927.

Simpson, Elizabeth Leonie. I, Lilith. Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Smith, 1991.

Sterling, George. Lilith. 1926.

Williams, Charles (1886-1945). Descent into Hell. Grand Rapids, MI:Eerdmans, 1993, 1949.

movie. Blood Ties. Richard and Esther Shapiro Entertainment, Inc.,1991.

movie. Bordello of Blood. Tales from the Crypt. Universal, 1996.

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various. The dybbuk of delight: an anthology of Jewish women'spoetry. Nottingham: Five Leaves Publications in association with theEuropean Jewish Publications Society, 1995. [ISBN: 0907123570]

Bibliographic Comments:

David Armstrong, York University writes:In his book Biblical Perspectives on Death, Bailey 1979 notes thatincubus/succubus spirits could cause disease, kill small children(perhaps an early ref to "crib death"), and have more than just socialintercourse with adults. These demons were called lili (female) and lilu(male) [page 10-11, I think].

Joseph M. Baumgarten writes:On Llit (Lilit), it just so happens that she is metioned in a $Q 4Q text,which led me to re-evaluate the possibly demonic nature of theseductress in 4Q184 in a paper just published in Revue de Qumran. Irefer there to the long history of this demoness, Lilit.

According ot Marc Bregman (Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem):The Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, Friday 22/4/1994 carries abrief review of [Nitzah Abarbanel, Eve and Lilith [*Havah ve-Lilit*]]

The author analyses the emergence of these two feminine types inpatriarchal culture using both Freudian and Jungian theories.

Daniel Cohen:The Absent Mother: restoring the goddess to Judaism and Christianityedited by Alix Pirani (published in England by a branch of Harper-Collins, so should be easy to get) contains a historical article byAsphodel Long with some original insights on Lilith (the book also hassome modern poetry on themes relating to Lilith).Asphodel Long has also written her own book In a Chariot Drawn by

Lions (with both a British and a US publisher - Women's Press andCrossing Press, respectively). It's a fine book, by a scholar for ageneral audience. It's mainly concerned with Wisdom as the femaleface of God in Judaism, but drawing connections with Wisdom aspectsof goddesses of the ancient Near East; not so much on Lilith, though.

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Marsha B. Cohen comments (in a note to Robert Kraft):Discussion of [11QPsAp a and 4Q510-511] in Bilhah Nitzan's Qumranprayer and religious poetry. Chapter 8 on "Magical Poetry," p. 227+.

LeGrand Cinq-Mars comments:

Rather ancillary at best, but not irrelevant, is [David Hufford's]ethnographic or folkloristic study of a certain kind of quasi-dreamexperience known in Newfoundland as "hagging", that is, being besetby a "hag".

Alejandro Gonzalez writes:On Kramer, "Babylonisches Gut...": sobre supervivencia de Lilitu enLilith.On Montgomery,Aramaic Incantation Texts...: Editions of variousamulets against Lilith, in Aramaic.

Rebecca Lesses writes:One little known source of information on Lilith that I would suggestwould be the Babylonian incantation bowls, which frequently mentionboth "lilita" and "lilin" (i.e., male and female liliths) -- not just a singlelilith. You could look at Isbell's "Corpus of the Aramaic IncantationBowls" and Naveh and Shaked's two books on Aramaic Incantations oflate antiquity (both published by Magnes Press).

Michael Swartz writes:On Lilith, as you can see, there is an extensive literature, including a

few important articles by Scholem. There is also R. Patai's, TheHebrew Goddess. A "classic" source is also theAlphabet of ben Sira,edited by Yasif and translated in Stern and Mirsky's, RabbinicFantasies, and discussed by J. Dan in Ha-Sippur ha-`Ivri. See also themagical bowls from Nippur in Montgomery,AIT.

Daniel Wing writes:I just thought you'd like to know (If you don't already.) That Lillithplays a fairly large part in Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortalityseries of novels. She is especially involved in the Fourth, Sixth, andSeventh books.

Additional Comments:

Herb Basser calls attention to the following materials:sab 151b,eruv 18b and 100b bab bat 73b , nida 24b, num r 16:16,buber's tanh. shelach, and places like zohar 2:267b and 3:119a.and adds:

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Of course Isaiah 34:14 is a good place to begin to start thinkingabout lilith. She also exists in the plural-- lilia-- liliths.lilith aka igra-- inhabiter of roofs and other joints made strong

appearances in incantantation bowls until joshua ben perachiadivorced her with a get. she and her 18000 cohorts ride around

tractate pesahim and some parallels in with night shades pulled downhaving made it out of gen r. but actually she comes in a number ofvarieties being a true princess of the night. But why is she a succubusrather than a succuba or even a scuba? She can be warded off if youknow the right psalms.

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Who is Lilith?

Lilith is an extremely controversial figure within Jewish folklore. Lilith'sname is not included in the creation story of the Torah but she appearsin several midrashictexts. Her symbolism, history and literature aredebated among Jewish scholars, feminists and other intellectuals.There are multiple origin stories for Lilith but the most popular historytold views Lilith as the first wife of Adam. According to the "first Eve"

story Lilith was created by God from dust and placed to live in thegarden with Adam until problems arose between Adam and Lilith whenAdam tried to exercise dominance over Lilith. One story tells that Lilithrefused to lay beneath Adam during sex. She believed they werecreated equal, both from the dust of the earth, thus she should nothave to lay beneath him. After Adam disagreed, Lilith fled the Gardenof Eden to gain her independence. Adam told God that Lilith had leftand God sent three angels, Senoi, Sansenoi, and Sammangelof, toretrieve her. The three angels found Lilith in a cave bearing childrenbut Lilith refused to come back to the garden. The angels told her they

would kill 100 of her children every day for her disobedience. Inrevenge, she is said to rob children of life and is responsible for thedeaths of still-born infants and crib deaths (SIDS). Male children are atrisk of Lilith's wrath for 8 days after birth (until circumcision) and girlsare at risk for 20 days. Although Lilith stole children's lives in thenight, she agreed not to kill the children who had amulets of either ofthe three angels.

After the angels' departure, Lilith tried to return to the garden butupon her arrival she discovered that Adam already had another mate,Eve. Out of revenge, Lilith had sex with Adam while he was sleeping

and "stole his seed." With his seed she bears 'lilium,' earth-bounddemons to replace her children killed by the angels. Lilith is also saidto be responsible for males' erotic dreams and night emissions.Another theory says that Lilith is impregnated, thus creating moredemons by masturbation and erotic dreams.

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Lilith Bibliography

Lilith: a power symbol?

The open-ended nature of the Lilith symbol has allowed differentgroups to use her as a destructive female symbol or a symbol offemale power. Many feminists see Lilith as not only the first womanbut the first independent woman created. In the creation story sherefuses to allow Adam to dominate her and flees the garden despitethe consequences. In order to retain her freedom she must give up herchildren and in retaliation she steals the seed of Adam. In one accountof this story, Lilith is said to "mount Adam" (click here for thisversion). This version of the story implies that Lilith sexually violatedAdam; however, other stories portray Lilith as a demoness who killschildren and takes advantage of men while they are sleeping. Jewishhalakhic law forbids the spilling of a man's seed and Lilith takesadvantage of this, during masturbation and erotic dreams, and uses it

to replenish her own offspring.

Although Lilith is controversial some feminists have used her as asymbol of empowerment. For example, one Jewish feminist magazineis called Lilith labels itself as an "Independent Jewish Woman'sMagazine." The publishers use Lilith as a title because they believe sheis a symbol of independence. However, those who still think of her as ademoness could turn it around and once again label feminists as malebashers or men-haters. They see Lilith as wicked and vengeful towardsmen and children. With any symbol or icon used by feminists,especially within a religious context, there will be controversy andopposition. Whether or not the story of Lilith is accurate is not themain issue. The "first Eve" version of the story gives Lilith a role thatmany women can identify within Judaism and other religioustraditions. She is an independent woman who challenges theoppressive system in which she is placed. Stealing the lives of childrenrepresents a certain madness that accompanies her solitude andexclusion. Despite Lilith's downfalls, she still remains a symbol of

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power simply by her survival and mysteriousness. She is open forinterpretation and therefore allows women to reinterpret hersymbolism and power within the tradition.

LILITH

thumb|275px|Lilith (1892) by [[John Collier (artist)|John Collier in

Southport Atkinson

Art Gallery]]

thumb|275px|Lady Lilith painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1866-68

(altered 1872-73)Lilith () is a character in Jewish mythology, found

earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, which is generally thought to be

related to a class of female demons Llu in Mesopotamian texts.

However, Lowell K. Handy (1997) notes that "Very little information

has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view of these

demons. Two sources of information previously used to define Lilith

are both suspect." The two problematic sources are the Gilgamesh

appendix and the Arshlan-Tash amulets below.

In Jewish folklore, from the 8th-10th CenturyAlphabet of Ben Sira

onwards Lilith becomes Adam's first wife, who was created at the

same time and from the same earth as Adam. This legend was greatly

developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition ofAggadic

midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism. In the 13th Century

writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen, for example, Lilith left

Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would

not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel

Samael. The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source

material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy and

horror.

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Etymology

The semitic rootL-Y-Llayilin Hebrew, as laylin Arabic, means

"night". Talmudic and Yiddish use ofLilith follows Hebrew.

In Akkadian the terms liliand lltu mean spirits. Some uses oflltu are

listed in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the

University of Chicago (CAD, 1956, L.190), in Wolfram von Soden's

Akkadisches Handwrterbuch (AHw, p.553), and Reallexikon der

Assyriologie (RLA, p.47). The Sumerian she-demons lilihave no

etymologic relation to Sumerian lilu, "evening."

Archibald Sayce (1882)Sayce (1887) considered that Hebrew Lilith ;

and Akkadian: lltu are from proto-Semitic. Charles Fossey(1902)Fossey (1902) has this literally translating to "female night

being/demon", although cuneiform inscriptions where Lltand Lltu

refers to disease-bearing wind spirits exist. Another possibility is

association not with "night", but with "wind", thus identifying the

Akkadian Lil-itu as a loan from the Sumerianlil, "air" specifically

from Ninlil, "lady air", goddess of the south wind (and wife ofEnlil)

and itud, "moon".

Mesopotamian mythology

Although widely repeated in secondary and tertiary sources the

possible references

to Lilith in Mesopotamian mythology are now disputed:

The spirit in the tree in the Gilgamesh Epic

Samuel Noah Kramer (1932, published 1938) translated ki-sikil-lil-la-

ke as Lilith in "Tablet XII" of the Epic of Gilgamesh dated c.600 BC.

"Tablet XII" is not part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, but is an later

Akkadian translation of the latter part of the Sumerian poem of

Bilgames and the Netherworld. The ki-sikil-lil-la-ke is associated with a

serpent and an zu bird, In Bilgames and the Netherworld, a huluppu

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tree (willow) grows in Inanna's garden in Uruk, whose wood she plans

to use to build a new throne. After ten years of growth, she comes to

harvest it and finds a serpent living at its base, a Zu bird raising young

in its crown, and that a ki-sikil-lil-la-ke made a house in its trunk.

Bilgames/Gilgamesh is said to have smitten the snake, and then the zu

bird flew away to the mountains with its young, while the ki-sikil-lil-la-

ke fearfully destroys its house and runs for the forest. Kramer's

identification is repeated without question or justification by Manfred

Hutter in the article on Lilith in Dictionary of deities and demons in the

Bible (1999)

Suggested translations for the Tablet XII spirit in the tree include ki-sikilas "sacred place", lilas "spirit", and lil-la-ke as "water spirit". but

also simply "owl", given that the lilis building a home in the trunk of

the tree.

A connection between the Gilgamesh ki-sikil-lil-la-ke and the Jewish

Lilith was rejected by Dietrich Opitz (1932) and other scholars, finally

being rejected on textual grounds by Sergio Ribichini (1978).

The bird-foot woman in the Burney Relief

Kramer's translation of the Gilgamesh fragment was used by Henri

Frankfort (1937)

and Emil Kraeling (1937) to support identification of a woman with

bird-feet in the Burney reliefas related to Lilith, but this too is rejected

by more recent scholarship.

The Arslan Tash amulets

Theodor Gaster (1942) mistakenly identified an incantantion in the

Arslan Tash amulets as a pre-Jewish reference to Lilith, but Torczyner

(1947) identified the amulets as a Jewish source.

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The vardat lilitu demons

The word lilu means spirit in Akkadian, and the male liliand female

lilitu are found in incantation texts from Nippur, Babylonia c600 BC in

both singular and plural forms. Among the spirits the vardat lilitu, ormaiden spiritbears some comparison with later Talmudic legends of

Lilith. A liliis related to witchcraft in the Sumerian incantation Text

313.

Siegmund Hurwitz

Much of the popular information found in non-academic sources

regarding Lilith is taken from reprints of out-of-copyright works which

are now outdated, for example Moses Gaster (1880), R. Campbell

Thompson (1908), W. O. E. Oesterley (1930) , , and confuses Jewish

and Assyrian sources.

The following material in this section of the article, in particular

secondary citation from Siegmund Hurwitz, requires verification and

replacement with primary academic sources:

According to Siegmund Hurwitz the figure of Lilith first appeared in a

class of wind and storm demons or spirits as Lilitu, in Sumer, circa4000 BC. The phonetic name Lilith is traditionally thought to have

originated in Ancient Israel, and to have pre-dated at least 700

BC.Hurwitz (1980)

Akkad, who were the earliest known Semitic speakers, and Sumer,

who were the earliest civilizations inhabiting Mesopotamia, developed

a very intimate cultural symbiosis with widespread bilingualism. The

bilateral influence ofSumerian and Akkadian is evident in all areas,

including syncretism between their gods, where each adopted the

other's deities. In Sumerian, Lilith was referred to as Ki-sikil-lil-la-ke,

and, in Akkadian, it wasArdat-lili. The Assyrian and Babylonian

cultures descended from these early cultures.

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Lil, father of Gilgamesh

Another proposed connection to Lilith is on the Sumerian king list,

where Gilgamesh's father is named as Lil.Hurwitz (1980) Patai (1942)

Little is known of Lil, and he was said to interfere with women in theirsleep and had functions of an incubus, while Lilit appeared to men in

their eroticdreams.Hurwitz (1980) Raphael Patai T.H. Jacobsen,

"Mesopotamia", in H. Frankfort et al., Before Philosophy: The

Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. Such qualities as lalu, or

wandering about, and lulu, or lasciviousness, from Akkadian (Semitic)

language have been associated as sources for the names Lila and

Lilit., but some Sumerologists say Lil is purely Sumerian.

Lilit demons

The Assyrian lilit were said to prey upon children and women and

were described as associated with lions, storms, desert, and disease.

Early portrayals of such demons are known as having Zu bird talons

for feet and wings. They were highly sexually predatory towards men

but were unable to copulate normally. They were thought to dwell in

waste, desolate, and desert places. Like the Sumerian Dimme, a malewind demon named Pazuzu was thought to be effective against them.

Lilith's epithet was "the beautiful maiden". She was described as

having no milk in her breasts and as unable to bear any

children.Raphael Patai p. 222

Other storm and night demons from a similar class are recorded from

Akkadian texts around this period. The Ardat-lili is from Ardat, which

is a young unmarried woman or maiden, also sometimes a title of

prostitutes, and lilit. These "maiden lilt" would come to men in their

sleep and beget children from them. Sick men would also be described

as being seized by Ardat-lili Their male counterparts, similar to an

incubus, were the Ird-lili These demons were originally storm and

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wind demons; however, later etymology made them into night

demons.

Lamasht

Lamasht or Labartu (in Sumerian Dimme) was a very similar

Mesopotamian demon to Lilit , and Lilith seems to have inherited

many of Lamasht's myths. She was considered a demi-goddess and

daughter of Anu, the sky god. Many incantations against her mention

her status as a daughter of heaven and her exercising her free will

over infants. This makes her different from the rest of the demons in

Mesopotamia. Unlike her demonic peers, Lamasht was not instructed

by the gods to do her malevolence; she did it on her own accord. She

was said to seduce men, harm pregnant women, mothers, and

neonates, kill foliage, and drink blood and was a cause of disease,

sickness, and death. Some incantations describe her as "seven

witches". The space between her legs is as a scorpion, corresponding

to the astrological sign ofScorpio. (Scorpio rules the genitals and sex

organs.) Her head is that of a lion, she has Anzu bird feet like Lilit,her breasts are suckled by a pig and a dog, and she rides the back of a

donkey. Other texts mention Lamasht as the hand of Inanna/Ishtar in

place of Lilit and Ardat-lili.

Gall and Al

Two other Mesopotamian demons have a close relation to Lilit: Gall

and Al. Al was originally an asexual demon, who took on female

attributes, but later became a male demon. Al liked to roam the

streets like a stray dog at night and creep into people's bedrooms as

they slept to terrify them. He was described as being half-human and

half-devil. He appears in Jewish lore as Ailo ; here, he is used as one

of Lilith's secret names . In other texts , Ailo is a daughter of Lilith that

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has had intercourse with a man. The other demon, Gall, is of the

Utukk group. Galls name, like Utukk, was also used as a general

term for multiple demons. Later , Gall appears as Gello, Gylo, or

Gyllou in Greco-Byzantine mythology as a child-stealing and child-

killing demon. This figure was, likewise, adapted by the Jews as Gil

and was also considered a secret name of Lilith's.

Lilit, Inanna's hand

Stephen Langdon (1914) claims that Babylonian texts depict Lilit as

the sacred prostitute of the goddess Ishtar, the Assyrian and

Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna. Hurwitz similarly

claims that older Sumerian accounts assert that Lilit is called thehandmaiden of Inanna or "hand of Inanna". The Sumerian texts state,

"Inanna has sent the beautiful, unmarried, and seductive prostitute

Lilit out into the fields and streets in order to lead men astray." That

is why Lilit is called the "hand of Inanna".

Lilith in the Bible

There is an ongoing scholarly debate as to whether the concept of

Lilith occurs in the Bible. The only possible occurrence is in the Book of

Isaiah 34:13-15, describing the desolation ofEdom, where the Hebrew

word liyliyth appears in a list of eight unclean animals, some of which

may have demonic associations. Since the word liyliyth is a hapax

legomenon in the Hebrew Bible and the other seven terms in the list

are better documented, the reading of scholars and translators is often

guided by a decision about the complete list of eight creatures as a

whole:Isaiah 34:13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and

thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt ofjackals, an abode for

ostriches. 14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild

goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird (liylith)

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settles and finds for herself a resting place. 15 There the owl nests

and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed,

there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. (ESV)

Hebrew text

Hebrew: -, - ; - ,

Hebrew (ISO 259):

34:14 "And shall-meet

the he-calls his-

liyliyth and she-finds

34:15 there the , and , and , and she-gathers under her-shadow:

also they-gather, every one with .

Eberhard Schrader (1875) and Moritz Abraham Levy (1885) suggest

that Lilith was a goddess of the night, known also by the Jewish exiles

in Babylon. Schrader and Levy's view is therefore partly dependent on

a later dating ofDeutero-Isaiah to the 6th century BC, and the

presence of Jews in Babylon which would coincide with the possiblereferences to the in Babylonian demonology. However this view is

challenged by some modern research such as by Judit M. Blair (2009)

who considers that the context indicates unclean animals.

Greek version

The Septuagint translates the reference into Greek as onokentauros,

apparently for lack of a better word, since also the se'irim, "satyrs",

earlier in the verse are translated with daimon onokentauros. The "wild

beasts of the island and the desert" are omitted altogether, and the

"crying to his fellow" is also done by the daimon onokentauros.

Latin Bible

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The early 5th-century Vulgate translated the same word as Lamia.

The translation is: "And demons and monsters shall meet and the

hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there vampires: she lay down,

and found rest for herself...". According to vampirologist Montague

Summers (1928), this particular species of owl is associated with the

vampiric Strix of Roman legend.

English versions

Wyclif's Bible (1395) preserves the Latin rendering Lamia:

Isa 34:15 Lamya schal ligge there, and foond rest there to hir silf.

The Bishops' Bible ofMatthew Parker (1568) from the Latin:

Isa 34:14 there shall the Lamia lye and haue her lodgyng.The Geneva Bible ofWilliam Whittington (1587) from the Hebrew:

Isa 34:14 and the shricheowle shall rest there, and shall finde for her

selfe a quiet

dwelling.

Then the King James Version of the Bible (1611):

Isa 34:14 "The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild

beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech

owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest."

The "screech owl" translation of the KJV is, together with the "owl" (,

probably a water bird) in 34:11 and the "great owl" (, properly a

snake) of 34:15, an attempt to render the passage by choosing

suitable animals for difficult-to-translate Hebrew words.

Later translations include:

night-owl (Young, 1898) night-spectre (Rotherham, Emphasized Bible, 1902)

night monster (ASV, 1901; JPS 1917, NASB, 1995)

vampires (Moffatt Translation, 1922)

night hag (RSV, 1947)

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Lilith (Jerusalem Bible, 1966)

lilith (New American Bible, 1970)

Lilith (NRSV, 1989)

Lilith (The Message (Bible), Peterson, 1993)

night creature (NIV, 1978; NKJV, 1982; NLT, 1996, TNIV)

nightjar (New World Translation, 1984)

night bird (English Standard Version, 2001)

Jewish tradition

Dead Sea Scrolls

The appearance of Lilith in the Dead Sea Scrolls is somewhat

more contentious, with one indisputable reference in theSong for a Sage (4Q510-511) and a promising additional

allusion found by A. Baumgarten in The Seductress (4Q184).

The first and irrefutable Lilith reference in the Song occursin 4Q510, fragment 1:

And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendour so as to frightenand to te[rrify] all the spirits of the destroying angels, spirits of thebastards, demons, Lilith, howlers, and [desert dwellers] and

those which fall upon men without warning to lead them astrayfrom a spirit of understanding and to make their heart and their[] desolate during the present dominion of wickedness andpredetermined time of humiliations for the sons of lig[ht], by theguilt of the ages of [those] smitten by iniquity not for eternaldestruction, [bu]t for an era of humiliation for transgression.

Akin to Isaiah 34:14, this liturgical text both cautions against the

presence of supernatural malevolence and assumes familiarity with

Lilith; distinct from the biblical text, however, this passage does not

function under any socio-political agenda, but instead serves in the

same capacity as An Exorcism (4Q560) and Songs to Disperse Demons

(11Q11) insomuch that it comprises incantationscomparable to the

Arslan Tash relief examined aboveused to "help protect the faithful

against the power of these spirits." The text is thus, to a community

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"deeply involved in the realm of demonology", an exorcism hymn.

Another text discovered at Qumran, conventionally associated with the

Book of Proverbs, credibly also could appropriate the Lilith tradition in

its description of a precarious, winsome womanThe Seductress

(4Q184). The ancient poemdated to the first century BC but

plausibly much olderdescribes a dangerous woman and consequently

warns against encounters with her. Customarily, the woman depicted

in this text is equated to the "strange woman" of Proverbs 2 and 5,

and for good reason; the parallels are instantly recognizable:

However, what this association does not take into account areadditional descriptions of the "Seductress" from Qumran that cannot

be found attributed to the "strange woman" of Proverbs; namely, her

horns and her wings: "a multitude ofsins is in her wings." The word

"seductress" here does not refer literally to "prostitute" or at the very

least, the representation of one, but one who tempts men into sin. The

sort of individual with whom that text's community would have been

familiar. The "Seductress" of the Qumran text, conversely, could not

possibly have represented an existent social threat given the

constraints of this particular ascetic community. Instead, the Qumran

text uses the imagery ofProverbs to explicate a much broader,

supernatural threat the threat of the demoness Lilith.

Talmud

Although references to Lilith in the Talmud are sparse, these passages

provide the most comprehensive insight into the demoness yet seen inJudaic literature, which some speculate to echo Lilith's purported

Mesopotamian origins and prefigure her future as the perceived

exegetical enigma of the Genesis account. Recalling the Lilith we have

seen, Talmudic allusions to Lilith illustrate her essential wings and long

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hair, dating back to her earliest extant mention in Gilgamesh:

"Rab Judah citing Samuel ruled: If an abortion had the likeness of

Lilith its mother is unclean by reason of the birth, for it is a child but it

has wings." (Niddah 24b)

"[Expounding upon the curses of womanhood] In a Baraitha it was

taught: She grows long hair like Lilith, sits when making water like a

beast, and serves as a bolster for her husband. ('Erubin 100b)

Unique to the Talmud with regard to Lilith is her insalubrious carnality,

alluded to in The Seductress but expanded upon here sans unspecificmetaphors as the demoness assuming the form of a woman in order to

sexually take men by force while they sleep:

"R. Hanina said: One may not sleep in a house alone [in a lonely

house], and whoever sleeps in a house alone is seized by Lilith.

(Shabbath 151b)

Yet the most innovative perception of Lilith offered by the Talmud

appears earlier in 'Erubin, and is more than likely inadvertently

responsible for the fate of the Lilith myth for centuries to come:

"R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: In all those years [130 years

after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden] during which Adam was

under the ban he begot ghosts and male demons and female demons

[or night demons], for it is said in Scripture: And Adam lived ahundred and thirty years and begot a son in own likeness, after his

own image, from which it follows that until that time he did not beget

after his own image When he saw that through him death was

ordained as punishment he spent a hundred and thirty years in

fasting, severed connection with his wife for a hundred and thirty

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years, and wore clothes offig on his body for a hundred and thirty

years. That statement [of R. Jeremiah] was made in reference to the

semen which he emitted accidentally. (Erubin 18b)

Comparing 'Erubin 18b and Shabbath 151b with the later passage

from the Zohar: She wanders about at night, vexing the sons of men

and causing them to defile themselves (19b), it appears clear that

this Talmudic passage indicates such an adverse union between Adam

and Lilith.

Shedim cults

A cult in Mesopotamia is said to be related to Lilith by early Jewishleaders. According to the hypotheses proposed by William F. Albright,

Theodor H. Gaster, and others, the name Lilith already existed in 7th

century BC. and Lilith retained her Shedim characteristics throughout

the entire Jewish tradition. Shedim is plural for "spirit" or "demon".

Figures that represent shedim are the shedu of Babylonian mythology.

These figures were depicted as anthropomorphic, winged bulls,

associated with wind. They were thought to guard palaces, cities,

houses, and temples. In magical texts of that era, they could be either

malevolent or benevolent. The cult originated from Babylon, then

spread to Canaan and eventually to Israel. Human sacrifice was part of

the practice and a sacrificial altar existed to the Shedim next to the

Yahweh cult, although this practice was widely denounced by prophets

who retained belief in Yahweh.

Shedim in Jewish thought and literature were portrayed as quitemalevolent. Some writings contend that they are storm-demons. Their

creation is presented in three contradicting Jewish tales. The first is

that during Creation, God created the shedim, but did not create their

bodies and forgot them on the Shabbat when he rested. The second is

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that they are descendants of demons in the form of serpents, and the

last states that they are simply descendants of Adam & Lilith. Another

story asserts that after the tower ofBabel, some people were

scattered and became Shedim, Ruchin, and Lilin.

Folk tradition

A Hebrew tradition exists in which an amulet is inscribed with the

names of three angels (Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof) and placed

around the neck ofnewbornboys in order to protect them from the

lilin until their circumcision.

The 8th-10th CenturyAlphabet of Ben Sira is considered to be theoldest form of the story of Lilith as Adam's first wife. Whether this

particular tradition is older is not known. Scholars tend to date the

Alphabet between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. (The attribution to

the sage Ben Sira is considered false, with the true author unknown.)

The amulets used against Lilith that were thought to derive from this

tradition are in fact, dated as being much older. The concept of Eve

having a predecessor is not exclusive to the Alphabet, and is not a new

concept, as it can be found in Genesis Rabbah. However, the idea that

Lilith was the predecessor is exclusive to the Alphabet. According to

Gershom Scholem, the author of the Zohar, R. Moses de Leon, was

aware of the folk tradition of Lilith. He was also aware of another

story, possibly older, that may be conflicting.

The idea that Adam had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from

an interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creationaccounts; while Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from

Adam's rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman

had been made: "So God created man in his own image, in the image

of God created he him; male and female created he them." The

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Alphabet text places Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18

that "it is not good for man to be alone"; in this text God forms Lilith

out of the clay from which he made Adam but she and Adam bicker.

Lilith claims that since she and Adam were created in the same way

they were equal and she refuses to submit to him:

After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for

man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth,

as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith

immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said,

'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in

the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith

responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were bothcreated from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another.

When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew

away into the air.

Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!'

he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy

One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and

Semangelof, to bring her back.

Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made

is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die

every day.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they

overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the

Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she

did not wish to return. The angels said, 'we shall drown you in thesea.

'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause sickness to infants.

If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his

birth, and if female, for twenty days.

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When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But

she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God:

'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will

have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred

of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred

demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names

on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she

remembers her oath, and the child recovers.

The background and purpose ofThe Alphabet of Ben-Sira is unclear. It

is a collection of stories about heroes of the Bible and Talmud, it may

have been a collection offolk-tales, a refutation ofChristian, Karaite,or other separatist movements; its content seems so offensive to

contemporary Jews that it was even suggested that it could be an anti-

Jewish satire, although, in any case, the text was accepted by the

Jewish mystics of medieval Germany.

The Alphabet of Ben-Sira is the earliest surviving source of the story,

and the conception that Lilith was Adam's first wife became only widely

known with the 17th century Lexicon Talmudicum ofJohannes

Buxtorf.

In the folk tradition that arose in the early Middle Ages Lilith, a

dominant female demon, became identified withAsmodeus, King of

Demons, as his queen. Asmodeus was already well known by this time

because of the legends about him in the Talmud. Thus, the merging of

Lilith and Asmodeus was inevitable. The second myth of Lilith grew to

include legends about another world and by some accounts this otherworld existed side by side with this one, Yenne Velt is Yiddish for this

described "Other World". In this case Asmodeus and Lilith were

believed to procreate demonic offspring endlessly and spread chaos at

every turn.Schwartz p.8 Many disasters were blamed on both of them,

causing wine to turn into vinegar, men to be impotent, women unable

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to give birth, and it was Lilith who was blamed for the loss of infant

life. The presence of Lilith and her cohorts were considered very real

at this time.

Two primary characteristics are seen in these legends about Lilith:

Lilith as the incarnation of lust, causing men to be led astray, and

Lilith as a child-killing witch, who strangles helpless neonates.

Although these two aspects of the Lilith legend seemed to have

evolved separately, there is hardly a tale where she encompasses both

roles. But the aspect of the witch-like role that Lilith plays broadens

her archetype of the destructive side of witchcraft. Such stories are

commonly found among Jewish folklore.

Kabbalah

Kabbalistic mysticism attempted to establish a more exact relationship

between Lilith and the Deity. With her major characteristics having

been well-developed by the end of the Talmudic period, after six

centuries had elapsed between theAramaicincantation texts that

mention Lilith and the early Spanish Kabbalistic writings in the 13th

century, she reappears, and her life history becomes known in greater

mythological detail.

Her creation is described in many alternative versions. One mentions

her creation as being before Adam's, on the fifth day, because the

"living creatures" with whose swarms God filled the waters included

none other than Lilith. A similar version, related to the earlier

Talmudic passages, recounts how Lilith was fashioned with the same

substance as Adam was, shortly before. A third alternative version

states that God originally created Adam and Lilith in a manner that the

female creature was contained in the male. Lilith's soul was lodged in

the depths of the Great Abyss. When God called her, she joined Adam.

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After Adam's body was created a thousandsouls from the Left (evil)

side attempted to attach themselves to him. However, God drove

them off. Adam was left lying as a body without a soul. Then a cloud

descended and God commanded the earth to produce a living soul.

This Godbreathed into Adam, who began to spring to life and his

female was attached to his side. God separated the female from

Adam's side. The female side was Lilith, whereupon she flew to the

Cities of the Sea and attacks humankind. Yet another version claims

that Lilith was not created by God, but emerged as a divine entity that

was born spontaneously, either out of the Great Supernal Abyss or out

of the power of an aspect of God (the Gevurah of Din). This aspect of

God, one of his ten attributes (Sefirot), at its lowest manifestation hasan affinity with the realm of evil and it is out of this that Lilith merged

with Samael. According to The Alphabet of Ben-Sira Lilith was Adam's

first wife.

An alternative story links Lilith with the creation of luminaries. The

"first light," which is the light of Mercy (one of the Sefirot), appeared

on the first day of creation when God said "Let there be light." This

light became hidden and the Holiness became surrounded by a husk of

evil. A husk (klippa) was created around the brain" and this husk

spread and brought out another husk, which was Lilith.

Adam and Lilith

300px|thumb|left|Adam holding on to a child while Lilith appears on a

tree.

The first medieval source to depict Adam and Lilith in full was the

Midrash Abkir(ca. 10th century), which was followed by the Zohar and

Kabbali

Lilith, Adam 1st Wife

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Transcript of Lilith, Adam 1st Wife