Who was Lilith? | Imamother

Motek

Thu, Oct 30 2008, 10:49 am

by Rabbi Aron Moss

Lilith is one of my favourite topics! I have done extensive research on her and recently did a lecture about her. Here is a tour of the sources.

The most famous source about Lilith is actually also the least reliable. A book called "Alfa Beisa deBen Sira" says:

After G-d 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 on the bottom, while I am to be above.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other 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.

From here it seems that Lilith was a human, who preceded Eve, and because she refused to subordinate herself to Adam, she ran away. From here Lilith became an icon for Jewish feminists, who name their journal after her.

However, the book Alfa Beisa is not an authoritative source. It is not clear who wrote it, but it is not accepted as a part of the oral tradition, and is full of strange and sometimes obscene stories. The sages of the Talmud mention the works of Ben Sira and advise people not to take them seriously, as they are not holy books.

Lilith is mentioned in several authoritative Jewish sources, but the picture of who she was is very different from the above. For example, this is in Medrash Haneelam, a section of Zohar:

Rav Yitzchok said in the name of Rav: Adam was created together with his mate, as it says, “Male and female He created them” (Gen. 5:2), and G-d separated her from him and brought her to Him, as it says, “And He took one of his sides (ribs)”.

Rav Yehoshua said: There was an Eve before this that was taken away because she was a harmful spirit, and another was given in her place.

Said Rava: The second one was physical, the first was not, but was rather made from filth and impure sediment.

From here it is clear that the woman who preceded Eve was not a person but rather a spirit. Another quote from the Zohar makes it clear that Adam and Eve were created together, and Lilith was only with Adam before Eve was split from him.

Come and see: There is a female, a spirit of all spirits, and her name is Lilith, and she was at first with Adam. And in the hour when Adam was created and his body became completed, a thousand spirits from the left [evil] side clung to that body until the Holy One, blessed be He, shouted at them and drove them away. And Adam was lying, a body without a spirit, and his appearance was green, and all those spirits surrounded him. In that hour a cloud descended and pushed away all those spirits. And when Adam stood up, his female was attached to his side. And that holy spirit which was in him spread out to this side and that side, and grew here and there, and thus became complete. Thereafter the Holy One, blessed be He, sawed Adam into two, and made the female. And He brought her to Adam in her perfection like a bride to the canopy. When Lilith saw this, she fled.

Adam was created as male and female joined at the rib. Thus, Lilith did not precede Eve at all, because Eve was created the same time as Adam. Rather Lilith was with Adam before he was separated from Eve and Adam and Eve got married.

The great kabbalist R' Yitzchok Luria, the Ari Zal, understood Lilith as being a spirit of lust. She is still around, and dangerous. He writes in Pri Etz Chaim:

You must know that at the time of s-xual union, being that it is an instinctive act that arouses feelings of lust, Lilith the wicked arrives to see if the person will have lustful intentions.

Based on this, Chassidus explains Lilith as being an embodiment of selfish s-xual desire. Here is an excerpt from an essay by modern chassidic thinker, Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky:

Lilith is a female demon. Just as an angel is the personification of some holy emotion, a demon is the personification of some evil emotion. In this case, Lilith (whose name is related to the Hebrew word for "night", "lailah") is the personification of man's s-xual lust as divorced from any context of true love or desire to increase G-dliness in this world - in other words: raw, self-indulgent, self-serving sensual pleasure. Man is intended to engage in s-xual pleasure as a spiritual pursuit that gives pleasure to his wife, makes him into a more holy person, and increases the Divine Image on earth (ideally by resulting in children). When instead, he engages in s-xual release simply for the "high" he enjoys from it, he is said to be copulating with Lilith.

In conclusion: Lilith is not a person but rather a spirit. She didn't precede Eve, because Eve was created at the same time as Adam (she was one side of him). She represents selfish s-xual desire. When she is described as being Adam's partner before Eve, what it means is that before Adam and Eve were separated into two beings, Adam's s-xual desire was selfish, as there was no 'other' to receive his love. Selfish s-xual desire is symbolically referred to as a relationship with Lilith - a negative female spirit rather than a real woman.

Based on all this it should be obvious how distasteful it is to make Lilith a mascot of Jewish feminism.

The reason why someone may have told you that women don't learn about Lilith is because she represents inappropriate male s-xual desire - a topic that men struggle with and women are better off not knowing about! The reason little is known about Lilith is because she is only spoken about in Kabbalistic sources, and many people, even rabbis, are ignorant of those sources.

But in truth she is mentioned in Tanach, Isaiah 34:14. The Zohar quotes this verse, and explains it as meaning that when Moshiach comes, Lilith will finally be banished forever:

When the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring about the destruction of the wicked Rome, and turn it into a ruin for all eternity, He will send Lilith there, and let her dwell in that ruin, for she is the ruination of the world. And to this refers the verse, And there shall repose Lilith and find her a place of rest (Isaiah 34:14).