Origin: Alphabet of Ben Sira
Having now examined the Bible and Talmud, we arrive at the Alphabet of Ben Sira which holds perhaps the quinessential story of Lilith. The text is dated between the 8th and 10th centuries of the common era and tells several stories in the form of aggadah with some elements of midrash in the text. There is a bit of a frame narrative two it: the biblical Ben Sira is in the court of Neubacanazzar (please ignore spelling mistakes regarding that name!) and as the text progresses Ben Sira relays various folk tales to the king. What follows is from the book Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives in Hebrew Literature and their translation of the relevent portion of the Alphabet of Ben Sira.
Soon afterward the young son of the king took ill, Said Nebuchadnezzar, "Heal my
son. If you don't, I will kill you." Ben Sira immediately sat down and wrote an
amulet with the Holy Name, and he inscribed on it the angels in charge of
medicine by their names, forms and images, and by their wings, hands, and feet.
Nebuchadnezzar looked at the amulet. "Who are these?"
"The
angles who are in charge of medicine: Snvi, Snsvi, and Smnglof. After God
created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone' (Gen.
2:18). He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam
himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith 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 am to be in the
superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were
both created 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 angles to bring her back.
"Said the Holy One to
Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, fine. 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 the sea.'
"'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.'
"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."
This text is the defining story of Lilith and includes several elements from the earlier texts examined in this blog. Her association with children, emphasized in the Talmud (Niddah 24b) is explained in full here. It also seems to corroborate with the information from Erubin 18b with the idea of demons and Lilith's demonic children.
https://lilithproject.blogspot.com/2008/04/origin-alphabet-of-ben-sira.html
An Updated Lilith Myth
"The Coming of Lilith" by Judith Plaskow
In the beginning, the Lord God formed Adam and Lilith from the dust of the ground and breathed into their nostrils the breath of life. Created from the same source, both having been formed from the ground, they were equal in all ways. Adam, being a man, didn’t like this situation, and he looked for ways to change it. He said, “I'll have my figs now, Lilith,” ordering her to wait on him, and he tried to leave to her the daily tasks of life in the garden. But Lilith wasn't one to take any nonsense; she picked herself up, uttered God's holy name, and flew away. “Well now, Lord,” complained Adam, “that uppity woman you sent me has gone and deserted me.” The Lord, inclined to be sympathetic, sent his messengers after Lilith, telling her to shape up and return to Adam or face dire punishment. She, however, preferring anything to living with Adam, decided to stay where she was. And so God, after more careful consideration this time, caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and out of one of his ribs created for him a second companion, Eve.
For a time, Eve and Adam had a good thing going. Adam was happy now, and Eve, though she occasionally sensed capacities within herself that remained undeveloped, was basically satisfied with the role of Adam's wife and helper. The only thing that really disturbed her was the excluding closeness of the relationship between Adam and God. Adam and God just seemed to have more in common, both being men, and Adam came to identify with God more and more. After a while, that made God a bit uncomfortable too, and he started going over in his mind whether he may not have made a mistake letting Adam talk him into banishing Lilith and creating Eve, seeing the power that gave Adam.
Meanwhile Lilith, all alone, attempted from time to time to rejoin the human community in the garden. After her first fruitless attempt to breach its walls, Adam worked hard to build them stronger, even getting Eve to help him. He told her fearsome stories of the demon Lilith who threatens women in childbirth and steals children from their cradles in the middle of the night. The second time Lilith came, she stormed the garden's main gate, and a great battle ensued between her and Adam in which she was finally defeated. This time, however, before Lilith got away, Eve got a glimpse of her and saw she was a woman like herself.
After this encounter, seeds of curiosity and doubt began to grow in Eve's mind. Was Lilith indeed just another woman? Adam had said she was a demon. Another woman! The very idea attracted Eve. She had never seen another creature like herself before. And how beautiful and strong Lilith looked! How bravely she had fought! Slowly, slowly, Eve began to think about the limits of her own life within the garden.
One day, after many months of strange and disturbing thoughts, Eve, wandering around the edge of the garden, noticed a young apple tree she and Adam had planted, and saw that one of its branches stretched over the garden wall. Spontaneously, she tried to climb it, and struggling to the top, swung herself over the wall.
She did not wander long on the other side before she met the one she had come to find, for Lilith was waiting. At first sight of her, Eve remembered the tales of Adam and was frightened, but Lilith understood and greeted her kindly. “Who are you?” they asked each other, “What is your story?” And they sat and spoke together of the past and then of the future. They talked for many hours, not once, but many times. They taught each other many things, and told each other stories, and laughed together, and cried, over and over, till the bond of sisterhood grew between them.
Meanwhile, back in the garden, Adam was puzzled by Eve's comings and goings, and disturbed by what he sensed to be her new attitude toward him. He talked to God about it, and God, having his own problems with Adam and a somewhat broader perspective, was able to help out a little—but he was confused, too. Something had failed to go according to plan. As in the days of Abraham, he needed counsel from his children. “I am who I am,” thought God, “but I must become who I will become.”
And God and Adam were expectant and afraid the day Eve and Lilith returned to the garden, bursting with possibilities, ready to rebuild it together.
Excerpt from: Plaskow, Judith. “The Coming of Lilith.” In Four Centuries of Jewish Women’s Spirituality: A Sourcebook. Ed. Ellen M. Umansky and Dianne Ashton. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Lilith in the Torah, Talmud, and Midrash
The Legend of Adam's First Wife
Ariela Pelaia
Updated February 22, 2019
According to Jewish mythology, Lilith was Adam’s wife before Eve. Over the centuries she also became known as a succubus demon who copulated with men during their sleep and strangled newborn babies. In recent years the feminist movement has reclaimed her character by re-interpreting the patriarchal texts that portray her as a dangerous female demon in a more positive light.
This article discusses the character of Lilith in the Bible, Talmud, and Midrash. You can also learn about Lilith in Medieval and feminist writings.
Lilith in the Bible
The legend of Lilith has its roots in the biblical book of Genesis, where two contradictory versions of Creation eventually led to the concept of a “first Eve.”
The first Creation account appears in Genesis 1 and describes the simultaneous creation of both male and female human beings after all of the plants and animals have already been placed in the Garden of Eden. In this version, man and woman are portrayed as equals and are both the pinnacle of God’s Creation.
The second Creation story appears in Genesis 2. Here man is created first and placed in the Garden of Eden to tend it. When God sees that he is lonely all the animals are made as possible companions for him. Finally, the first woman (Eve) is created after Adam rejects all of the animals as partners. Hence, in this account man is created first and woman is created last.
These obvious contradictions presented a problem for the ancient rabbis who believed that the Torah was the written word of God and therefore it could not contradict itself. They, therefore, interpreted Genesis 1 so that it did not contradict Genesis 2, coming up with ideas such as the androgyne and a "First Eve" in the process. According to the theory of a "First Eve," Genesis 1 refers to Adam’s first wife, while Genesis 2 refers to Eve, who was Adam’s second wife.
Eventually this idea of a “First Eve” was combined with legends of female “lillu” demons, who were believed to stalk men in their sleep and prey upon women and children. However, the only explicit reference to a “Lilith” in the Bible appears in Isaiah 34:14, which reads: “The wild cat shall meet with the jackals, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow, yea, Lilith shall repose there and find her a place of rest.”
Lilith in the Talmud and in Midrash
Lilith is mentioned four times in the Babylonian Talmud, though in each of these cases she is not referred to as Adam’s wife. BT Niddah 24b discusses her in relation to abnormal fetuses and uncleanness, saying: “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.” Here we learn that the rabbis believed Lilith had wings and that she could influence the outcome of a pregnancy.
BT Shabbat 151b also discusses Lilith, warning that a man should not sleep alone in a house lest Lilith fall upon him in his sleep. According to this and other texts, Lilith is a female succubus not unlike the lillu demons referenced above. The rabbis believed she was responsible for nocturnal emissions while a man was sleeping and that Lilith used the semen she collected to give birth to hundreds of demon babies. Lilith also appears in Baba Batra 73a-b, where a sighting of her son is described, and in Erubin 100b, where the rabbis discuss Lilith’s long hair in relation to Eve.
Glimpses of Lilith’s eventual association with the “First Eve” can be seen in Genesis Rabbah 18:4, a collection of midrashim about the book of Genesis. Here the rabbis describe the “First Eve” as a “golden bell” that troubles them in the night. “'A golden bell'… it is she who troubled me all night...Why do not all other dreams exhaust a man, yet this [a dream of intimacy takes place] does exhaust a man. Because from the very beginning of her creation she was but in a dream.”
Over the centuries the association between the “First Eve” and Lilith led to Lilith’s assuming the role of Adam’s first wife in Jewish folklore.
Sources:
- Baskin, Judith. "Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature." University Press of New England: Hanover, 2002.
- Kvam, Krisen E. etal. "Eve & Adam: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Readings on Genesis and Gender." Indiana University Press: Bloomington, 1999.
https://www.learnreligions.com/lilith-in-the-torah-talmud-midrash-2076654