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Lilith: Myth and Modern Revision

The document summarizes myths and stories about the figure of Lilith from ancient Sumerian traditions through 13th century Kabbalistic texts. It mentions two recommended books on Lilith mythology and discusses debates around the idea that Lilith acted as an equal to Adam and rejected his dominance, citing references from the 13th century Zohar and Alpha Bet Ben Sira that portray Lilith as originally equal to Adam but diminishing herself when God commands her to. The document also briefly summarizes a myth where Lilith utters God's secret name and flies away to dwell in a desert cave engaging in promiscuity.

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Splendid Smith
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165 views1 page

Lilith: Myth and Modern Revision

The document summarizes myths and stories about the figure of Lilith from ancient Sumerian traditions through 13th century Kabbalistic texts. It mentions two recommended books on Lilith mythology and discusses debates around the idea that Lilith acted as an equal to Adam and rejected his dominance, citing references from the 13th century Zohar and Alpha Bet Ben Sira that portray Lilith as originally equal to Adam but diminishing herself when God commands her to. The document also briefly summarizes a myth where Lilith utters God's secret name and flies away to dwell in a desert cave engaging in promiscuity.

Uploaded by

Splendid Smith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

The Book Of Lilith

Two of my favorate books:

The Book of Lilith by Barbara Black Koltuv, Ph.D. ISBN 0-89254-014-1 Samuel Weiser, Inc. 1986,
BL1605.L55K65 291.2'16 86-8398. The scholarship is rather poor, and the translations are often
suspect (i.e. also poor).

Doctor Raphael Patai's The Hebrew Goddess , 1967, Hoboken: Ktav Publishing House is an excellent
sourse of Lilith myth.

Lilith was given birth during the third millenium BCE in Sumer, with the name Lil, which is a
destructive storm or wind spirit. Layil, the Hebrew word for night, became Lilith when She passed
through Syria.

JJH> I'm particulary interested in fixing a date on the claim 


JJH> that Adam rejected her because she acted as an equal. THAT
JJH> part smacks of modern revisionism.

The equality of Lilith is found in the Zohar, which is 13th century. An English translation may be
purchased from Rebecca Bennet Publications, New York. Authors are Harry Sperkling and Maurice
Simon---- it is often called the "S.S. translation."
translation."

Zohar I 20a likens Her to the moon and Adam to the sun.

God thereupon said to Her, "Go and diminish thyself." She felt humiliated and said "Why
should
should I be as one that veileth Herself?
Herself?"" Then god said "Go thy way forth in the footsteps
of the flock."
flock." Thereupon
Thereupon She diminished
diminished Herself
Herself so as to be head of the lower ranks.
ranks.
[Capitals mine]

From the mirash Alpha Bet Ben Sira, which you will probably be able to aquire from a Jewish
publishing house:

God formed Lilith the first


first Woman just as he had formed Adam except that he used filth
and impure sediment instead
instead of dust or earth. Adam and Lilith never found
found peace
together. She disagreed with him in many matters, and refused to lie beneath him in
sexual intercourse, basing Her claim for equality on the fact that each had been created
from earth. When Lilith saw that Adam would overpower Her, She uttered the ineffable
word of god and flew up into the air of the world. Eventually,
Eventually, She dwelt
dwelt in a cave in the
desert on the shores of the Red Sea. There She engaged in unbridled promiscuity,
consorted with lascivious demons, and gave birth to hundreds of Lilim or demonic
babies, daily.

--- Shy David


David

Go Back to Shy David's Goddess


Goddess Lilith Page.

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