Editing Lilith (section)

== Jewish tradition ==
Major sources in Jewish tradition regarding Lilith in chronological order include:
* c. 40–10 BC [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] – [[4Q510–511|Songs for a Sage]] (4Q510–511)
* c. 200 [[Mishnah]] – not mentioned <!-- lol why is this listed if she's not mentioned? -->
* c. 500 [[Gemara]] of the [[Talmud]]
* c. 700-1000 [[The Alphabet of Ben-Sira]]
* c. 900 [[Midrash Abkir]]
* c. 1260 [[Treatise on the Left Emanation]], Spain
* c. 1280 [[Zohar]], Spain.

=== Dead Sea Scrolls ===
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain one indisputable reference to Lilith in ''Songs of the Sage'' (4Q510–511)<ref>Davis, Michael T.; Strawn, Brent A. (2007) ''Qumran studies: new approaches, new questions''. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. {{ISBN|9780802860804}}. p. 47: "two manuscripts that date to the Herodian period, with 4Q510 slightly earlier".</ref> fragment 1:

<blockquote>And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendour so as to frighten and to te[rrify] all the spirits of the destroying angels; spirits of the [[Legitimacy (family law)|bastard]]s, demons, Lilith, howlers, and [desert dwellers] ... and those which fall upon men, without warning, to lead them astray from a spirit of understanding, and to make their heart and their minds desolate during the present dominion of wickedness and predetermined time of humiliations for the Sons of Lig[ht], by the guilt of the ages of [those] smitten by iniquity – not for eternal destruction, [bu]t for an era of humiliation for transgression.<ref>Chilton, Bruce; Bock, Darrell and Gurtner, Daniel M. (2010) ''A Comparative Handbook to the Gospel of Mark''. Brill. p. 84. {{ISBN|9789004179738}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Great Isaiah Scroll.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Photographic reproduction of the [[Great Isaiah Scroll]], which contains a reference to plural ''liliyyot'']]

As with the Massoretic text of Isaiah 34:14, and therefore unlike the plural ''liliyyot'' (or ''liliyyoth'') in the Isaiah scroll 34:14, ''lilit'' in 4Q510 is singular, 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).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lilith|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/lilith/|date=31 October 2019|website=Biblical Archaeology Society|language=en|access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref> The text is thus, to a community "deeply involved in the realm of demonology",<ref name=b/> an exorcism hymn.

Joseph M. Baumgarten (1991) identified the unnamed woman of ''The Seductress'' (4Q184) as related to the female demon.<ref name=b>{{cite journal|author=Baumgarten, J. M. |title=On the Nature of the Seductress in 4Q184|journal=Revue de Qumran|volume= 15 |year=1991|issue=1/2 (57/58) |jstor=24608925|pages= 133–143}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Baumgarten, J. M. |title=The seductress of Qumran|journal=Bible Review|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/bible-review/17/5/8|volume= 17 |issue=5 |year=2001|pages=21–23; 42}}</ref> However, John J. Collins<ref>Collins, J. J. (1997) ''Jewish wisdom in the Hellenistic age''. Westminster John Knox Press. {{ISBN|9780664221096}}</ref> regards this identification as "intriguing" but that it is "safe to say" that (4Q184) is based on the strange woman of Proverbs 2, 5, 7, 9:
{{poemquote|Her house sinks down to death,
And her course leads to the shades.
All who go to her cannot return
And find again the paths of life.|Proverbs 2:18–19}}

{{poemquote|Her gates are gates of death, and from the entrance of the house
She sets out towards Sheol.
None of those who enter there will ever return,
And all who possess her will descend to the Pit.|4Q184}}

=== Early Rabbinic literature ===
Lilith does not occur in the [[Mishnah]]. The [[Jerusalem Talmud]] contains one mention in the 1523 Bomberg edition (Shabbat 6:9), which is not supported by any manuscript.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 6:9:6 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Shabbat.6.9.6 |website=Sefaria}} In the Leiden manuscript a dash has been inserted between לי and לית to create לילית, presumably by the Venice printers, who indeed print לילית. Cambridge T-S F 17:32 f. 1r attests לי לי[ת], separated but with the final character lost to lacuna. [[Moses Margolies]] reads "Lilith" but [[David ben Naphtali Fränkel|David Hirsch Fränkel]], followed by all modern scholars, restores the manuscript text.</ref> The word "lilit" appears five times in the Babylonian Talmud:
* "Rav Judah citing [[Samuel]] ruled: If an abortion has the likeness of ''lilit'', its [[mother]] is unclean by reason of the [[birth]], [for] it is a child except that it has wings." (b. [[Niddah (Talmud)|Niddah]] 24b)<ref>Tractate Niddah in the Mishnah is the only tractate from the Order of Tohorot which has Talmud on it. The Jerusalem Talmud is incomplete here, but the Babylonian Talmud on Tractate Niddah (2a–76b) is complete.</ref>
* "[Expounding upon the curses of womanhood] In a [[baraita]] it was taught: She grows her hair like ''lilit'', sits when urinating like an animal, and serves as a bolster for her husband." (b. [[Eruvin (Talmud)|Eruvin]] 100b)
* "For a pricking sensation:{{Efn|Rashi: ''espointe''; Jastrow: "a sort of fever (?)"; Kohut: "side stitch".}} he should bring an Arrow of Lilith{{Efn|Text confused; see Diqduqe soferim hashalem. Many assume the literal sense is "an arrow of Lilith" but Kohut: "a shaft of lightning". Arukh: "a stone in the shape of an arrow and falls with the hail, and upturns the Accuser". Rashi: "a stone in the shape of an arrow and falls from the sky with the hail". Wojciech speculates: "Probably a meteorite stone or a fulgurite, colloquially known as petrified lightning." Cf. Sherira's commentary (meaning obscure).}} and upturn it, and pour water on it and drink it. Alternatively he can take water of which a dog has drunk at night, but he must take care that it has not been exposed." (b. [[Gittin]] 69b). 
* "[[Rabbah bar Nahmani|Rabbah]] said: I saw{{Efn|[[Yom Tov of Seville]] writes (ad loc.) "The [[Geonim]] record that every time it says 'I saw' in this formula, it was a dream-vision".}} Hormin{{Efn|[[Rashbam]]: "''Hormin'' is our version, so I heard from [[Meir ben Samuel|my honored father]]. But I heard ''Hormiz'', a type of demon." This latter version is represented in the Ritva and ''Arukh'', as well as MSS Hamburg 165, Paris 1337, and Escorial 1115; cf. [[Tosafot]] to b. Gittin 11a s.v. ''Hormin''. Hormin ([[Ahriman]]) and Hormiz ([[Ormuzd]]) are the two opposing forces in [[Zoroastrianism]]. The commentary attributed to [[Rabbenu Gershom]] also comments "a certain demon", but Ritva, "Some say that it is demon, and demons are more visible when positioned to the north. But others say that it is the name of a man who was very knowledgeable in the ways of demons and optical illusion."}} the son of Lilith running on the parapet of the wall of [[Al-Mada'in|Mahoza]], and a rider, galloping below on horseback, could not overtake him. Once, they saddled for him two mules which stood on two bridges of the Rognag;{{Efn|Corrupt or obscure; variants: ''Ronag'', ''Donag'', ''Rornag'', ''Dognag'', ''Dog'', ''Agnag'', ''Dinag'', ''Dornag'', ''Davang'', ''Ravang''. Arukh cites "bridges of the river".}} and he jumped from one to the other, backward and forward, holding in his hands two cups of wine, pouring alternately from one to the other, and not a drop fell to the ground. This was a day of 'They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths', until word reached the house of the king{{Efn|According to the commentary attributed to Gershom, the king of the demons heard that he was performing public magic and killed him to protect their secrets. Another possibility is cited in Rashbam: "The house of the Caesar, who feared lest the kingship be taken from him by this creature spawned by man lying with demon, who lives among men."}} and they killed him." (b. [[Bava Batra]] 73a-b).
* "R. Hanina said: One may not sleep in a house alone, and whoever sleeps in a house alone is seized by ''lilit''." (b. [[Shabbat (Talmud)|Shabbat]] 151b)

The above statement by Hanina may be related to the belief that nocturnal emissions engendered the birth of demons:
* "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 [[ghost]]s and male demons and female demons [or night demons], for it is said in Scripture: And Adam lived a hundred 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 years, and wore clothes of [[ficus|fig]] 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." (b. [[Eruvin (Talmud)|Eruvin]] 18b)

The [[Midrash Rabba]]h collection contains two references to Lilith. The first one is present in [[Genesis Rabbah]] 22:7 and 18:4: according to Rabbi Yehuda beRabbi, God proceeded to create a second Eve for Adam, after Lilith had to return to dust.<ref name=aish-lillith>{{cite web|url=http://www.aish.com/atr/Lillith.html|last=Aish|title=Lillith|work=Aish.com |date=18 August 2011 |access-date=29 May 2020}}</ref> However, to be exact the said passages do not employ the Hebrew word {{Transliteration|he|lilith}} itself and instead speak of "the first Eve" ({{langx|he|חַוָּה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה|ḥawwā hārīšōnā}}, analogical to [[Adam Kadmon|Adam ha-Rishon]] "the first Adam"). Although in the medieval Hebrew literature and folklore, especially that reflected on the protective amulets of various kinds, "The First Eve" was identified with Lilith, one should remain careful in transposing this equation to the Late Antiquity.<ref name="Kosior-2018">{{Cite journal|last=Kosior|first=Wojciech|date=2018|title=A Tale of Two Sisters: The Image of Eve in Early Rabbinic Literature and Its Influence on the Portrayal of Lilith in the Alphabet of Ben Sira|url=https://www.academia.edu/36771379|journal=Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues|issue=32|pages=112–130|doi=10.2979/nashim.32.1.10|s2cid=166142604|access-date=5 September 2018|archive-date=6 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106120624/https://www.academia.edu/36771379|url-status=live}}</ref>

The second mention of Lilith, this time explicit, is present in [[Numbers Rabbah]] 16:25. The midrash develops the story of Moses's plea after God expresses anger at the bad report of the spies. Moses responds to a threat by God that He will destroy the Israelite people. Moses pleads before God, that God should not be like Lilith who kills her own children.<ref name="Kosior-2018" />  Moses said:{{blockquote|[God,] do not do it [i.e. destroy the Israelite people], that the nations of the world may not regard you as a cruel Being and say: 'The Generation of the Flood came and He destroyed them, the Generation of the Separation came and He destroyed them, the Sodomites and the Egyptians came and He destroyed them, and these also, whom he called My son, My firstborn (Ex. IV, 22), He is now destroying! As that Lilith who, when she finds nothing else, turns upon her own children, so Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land... He hath slain them' (Num. XIV, 16)!<ref>Numbers Rabbah, in: Judaic Classics Library, Davka Corporation, 1999. (CD-ROM).</ref>}}

=== Incantation bowls ===
[[File:Incantation bowl demon Met L1999.83.3.jpg|thumb|[[Incantation bowl]] with an [[Aramaic]] inscription around a demon, from [[Nippur]], Mesopotamia, 6–7th century]]
An individual Lilith, along with [[Bagdana (Judaism)|Bagdana]] "king of the lilits", is one of the demons to feature prominently in protective spells in the eighty surviving Jewish occult [[incantation bowl]]s from [[Sassanid Empire]] Babylon (4th–6th century AD) with influence from Iranian culture.<sup>[[Lilith#cite note-47|[47]]]</sup><ref name="Shaked-2013">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6yKp94t5J34C|last=Shaked|first=Shaul|others=Ford, James Nathan; Bhayro, Siam; Morgenstern, Matthew; Vilozny, Naama|title=Aramaic bowl spells : Jewish Babylonian Aramaic bowls. Volume one|date=2013|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004229372|oclc=854568886}}</ref> These bowls were buried upside down below the structure of the house or on the land of the house, in order to trap the demon or demoness.<ref name="Lesses-2001">{{Cite journal|last=Lesses|first=Rebecca|date=2001|title=Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses, Exorcists, and Demonesses in Babylonian Jewish Society of Late Antiquity|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|volume=69|issue=2|pages=343–375|jstor=1465786|doi=10.1093/jaarel/69.2.343|pmid=20681106}}</ref> Almost every house was found to have such protective bowls against demons and demonesses.<ref name="Lesses-2001" /><ref>''Descenders to the chariot: the people behind the Hekhalot literature'', p. 277 James R. Davila – 2001: "that they be used by anyone and everyone. The whole community could become the equals of the sages. Perhaps this is why nearly every house excavated in the Jewish settlement in Nippur had one or more incantation bowl buried in it."</ref>

The centre of the inside of the bowl depicts Lilith, or the male form, Lilit.  Surrounding the image is writing in spiral form; the writing often begins at the centre and works its way to the edge.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yamauchi|first=Edwin M.|date=October–December 1965|title=Aramaic Magic Bowls|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=85|issue=4|pages=511–523|doi=10.2307/596720|jstor=596720}}</ref> The writing is most commonly scripture or references to the Talmud.  The incantation bowls which have been analysed, are inscribed in the following languages, [[Jewish Babylonian Aramaic]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], Mandaic, [[Middle Persian]], and Arabic.  Some bowls are written in a false script which has no meaning.<ref name="Shaked-2013" />

The correctly worded incantation bowl was capable of warding off Lilith or Lilit from the household.  Lilith had the power to transform into a woman's physical features, seduce her husband, and conceive a child.  However, Lilith would become hateful toward the children born of the husband and wife and would seek to kill them.  Similarly, Lilit would transform into the physical features of the husband, seduce the wife, she would give birth to a child.  It would become evident that the child was not fathered by the husband, and the child would be looked down on.  Lilit would seek revenge on the family by killing the children born to the husband and wife.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Isbell|first=Charles D.|date=March 1978|title=The Story of the Aramaic Magical Incantation Bowls|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|language=en|volume=41|issue=1|pages=5–16|doi=10.2307/3209471|jstor=3209471|s2cid=194977929}}</ref>

Key features of the depiction of Lilith or Lilit include the following.  The figure is often depicted with arms and legs chained, indicating the control of the family over the demon(ess).  The demon(ess) is depicted in a frontal position with the whole face showing.  The eyes are very large, as well as the hands (if depicted).  The demon(ess) is entirely static.<ref name="Shaked-2013" />

One bowl contains the following inscription commissioned from a Jewish occultist to protect a woman called Rashnoi and her husband from Lilith:{{blockquote|Thou liliths, male lili and female lilith, [[hag]] and ghool, I adjure you by the Strong One of Abraham, by the Rock of Isaac, by the [[El Shaddai|Shaddai]] of Jacob, by [[Jah|Yah]] Ha-Shem by Yah his memorial, to turn away from this Rashnoi b. M. and from Geyonai b. M. her husband. [Here is] your divorce and writ and letter of separation, sent through holy angels. Amen, Amen, Selah, Halleluyah! ([http://www.bib-arch.org/images/e-features/BSBR170501500L.jpg image])|Excerpt from translation in ''Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Montgomery | first=James Alan | title=Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge | date=2011 | isbn=978-0-511-79285-4 | page=156}}</ref>}}

=== Alphabet of Ben Sira ===
{{Main|Alphabet of Ben Sira}}
[[File:Lilith (Carl Poellath).jpg|thumb|''Lilith'', illustration by Carl Poellath from 1886 or earlier]]

The [[pseudepigraphic]]al<ref>The attribution to the sage [[Ben Sira]] is considered false, with the true author unknown.</ref> 8th–10th centuries ''[[Alphabet of Ben Sira]]'' is considered to be the oldest 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 work has been characterized by some scholars as [[satire|satirical]], but [[Louis Ginzberg|Ginzberg]] concluded it was meant seriously.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BEN SIRA, ALPHABET OF - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2888-ben-sira-alphabet-of |access-date=23 June 2022 |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref>

In the text, an [[amulet]] is inscribed with the names of three [[angel]]s ([[Senoy]], [[Sansenoy]], and [[Semangelof]]) and placed around the neck of [[newborn]] [[boy]]s in order to protect them from the [[lilin]] until their [[circumcision]].<ref>Alphabet of Ben Sirah, Question #5 (23a–b).</ref> The amulets used against Lilith that were thought to derive from this tradition are, in fact, dated as being much older.<ref>Humm, Alan. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/alphabet.html Lilith in the Alphabet of Ben Sira] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970222082625/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/alphabet.html |date=22 February 1997 }}</ref> 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]].{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} However, the idea that Lilith was the predecessor may be exclusive to the Alphabet.

The idea in the text that [[Adam]] had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from an interpretation of the [[Book of Genesis]] and its dual creation accounts; 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 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:

<blockquote>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 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 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 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.</blockquote>

The background and purpose of ''The 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 of [[Folklore|folk-tale]]s, a refutation of Christian, [[Karaite Judaism|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]],<ref>Segal, Eliezer. [http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/950206_Lilith.html Looking for Lilith] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011218042030/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/950206_Lilith.html |date=18 December 2001 }}</ref> although, in any case, the text was accepted by the Jewish mystics of medieval Germany.<ref name="Kosior-2018" />

[[File:Filippino Lippi- Adam.JPG|upright=1.3|thumb|right|[[Adam]] clutches a child in the presence of the child-snatcher Lilith. Fresco by [[Filippino Lippi]], basilica of [[Santa Maria Novella]], Florence.]]

''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'' of German scholar [[Johannes Buxtorf]].

In this folk tradition that arose in the early Middle Ages, Lilith, a dominant female demon, became identified with [[Asmodeus]], King of Demons, as his queen.{{sfnp|Schwartz|1988|p=7}} 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.{{sfnp|Schwartz|1988|p=8}} The second myth of Lilith grew to include legends about another world and by some accounts this other world 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.{{sfnp|Schwartz|1988|p=8}}

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. These two aspects of the Lilith legend seemed to have evolved separately; there is hardly a tale where she encompasses both roles.{{sfnp|Schwartz|1988|p=8}} 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.{{sfnp|Schwartz|1988|p=8}}

==== The influence of the rabbinic traditions ====
Although the image of Lilith of the ''Alphabet of Ben Sira'' is unprecedented, some elements in her portrayal can be traced back to the talmudic and midrashic traditions that arose around Eve.

First and foremost, the very introduction of Lilith to the creation story rests on the rabbinic myth, prompted by the two separate creation accounts in Genesis 1:1–2:25, that there were two original women. A way of resolving the apparent discrepancy between these two accounts was to assume that there must have been some other first woman, apart from the one later identified with Eve. The Rabbis, noting Adam's exclamation, "this time (''zot hapa‘am'') [this is] bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23), took it as an intimation that there must already have been a "first time". According to Genesis rabbah 18:4, Adam was disgusted upon seeing the first woman full of "discharge and blood", and God had to provide him with another one. The subsequent creation is performed with adequate precautions: Adam is made to sleep, so as not to witness the process itself (Sanhedrin 39a), and Eve is adorned with fine jewellery (Genesis rabbah 18:1) and brought to Adam by the angels Gabriel and Michael (ibid. 18:3). However, nowhere do the rabbis specify what happened to the first woman, leaving the matter open for further speculation. This is the gap into which the later tradition of Lilith could fit.

Second, this new woman is still met with harsh rabbinic allegations. Again playing on the Hebrew phrase {{Transliteration|he|zot hapa‘am}}, Adam, according to the same midrash, declares: "it is she [''zot''] who is destined to strike the bell [''zog''] and to speak [in strife] against me, as you read, 'a golden bell [''pa‘amon''] and a pomegranate' [Exodus 28:34]  ... it is she who will trouble me [''mefa‘amtani''] all night" (Genesis Rabbah 18:4). The first woman also becomes the object of accusations ascribed to Rabbi Joshua of Siknin, according to whom Eve, despite the divine efforts, turned out to be "swelled-headed, coquette, eavesdropper, gossip, prone to jealousy, light-fingered and gadabout" (Genesis Rabbah 18:2). A similar set of charges appears in Genesis Rabbah 17:8, according to which Eve's creation from Adam's rib rather than from the earth makes her inferior to Adam and never satisfied with anything.

Third, and despite the terseness of the biblical text in this regard, the erotic iniquities attributed to Eve constitute a separate category of her shortcomings. Told in Genesis 3:16 that "your desire shall be for your husband", she is accused by the Rabbis of having an overdeveloped sexual drive (Genesis Rabbah 20:7) and constantly enticing Adam (Genesis Rabbah 23:5). However, in terms of textual popularity and dissemination, the motif of Eve copulating with the primeval serpent takes priority over her other sexual transgressions. Despite the rather unsettling picturesqueness of this account, it is conveyed in numerous places: Genesis Rabbah 18:6, and BT Sotah 9b, Shabbat 145b–146a and 156a, Yevamot 103b and Avodah Zarah 22b.<ref name="Kosior-2018" />

=== Kabbalah ===
{{main|Lilith (Lurianic Kabbalah)}}
[[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic mysticism]] attempted to establish a more exact relationship between Lilith and God. With her major characteristics having been well developed by the end of the [[Talmudic period]], after six centuries had elapsed between the [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] [[incantation]] 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.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|pp=229–230}} 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 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. After Adam's body was created a thousand [[Soul (spirit)|soul]]s 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 God [[breath]]ed 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 attacked [[humankind]].

Yet another version claims that Lilith 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|Gevurah of Din]]). This aspect of God was negative and punitive, as well as one of his ten attributes ([[Sefirot]]), at its lowest manifestation has an affinity with the realm of evil and it is out of this that Lilith merged with Samael.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=230}}

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.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=231}}

==== Midrash ABKIR ====
The first medieval source to depict Adam and Lilith in full was the [[Midrash Abkir|Midrash A.B.K.I.R.]] (c. 10th century), which was followed by the Zohar and other Kabbalistic writings. Adam is said to be perfect until he recognises either his sin or Cain's fratricide that is the cause of bringing death into the world. He then separates from holy Eve, sleeps alone, and fasts for 130 years. During this time "Pizna", either an alternate name for Lilith or a daughter of hers, desires his beauty and seduces him against his will. She gives birth to multitudes of [[djinn]]s and demons, the first of them being named Agrimas. However, they are defeated by [[Methuselah]], who slays thousands of them with a holy sword and forces Agrimas to give him the names of the rest, after which he casts them away to the sea and the mountains.<ref>Geoffrey W. Dennis, ''The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism: Second Edition''.</ref>

==== Treatise on the Left Emanation ====
{{Main|Treatise on the Left Emanation}}
The mystical writing of two brothers Jacob and Isaac Hacohen, ''[[Treatise on the Left Emanation]]'', which predates the Zohar by a few decades, states that Samael and Lilith are in the shape of an [[androgynous]] being, double-faced, born out of the emanation of the Throne of Glory and corresponding in the spiritual realm to Adam and Eve, who were likewise born as a [[hermaphrodite]]. The two twin androgynous couples resembled each other and both "were like the image of Above"; that is, that they are reproduced in a visible form of an androgynous deity.

<blockquote>19. In answer to your question concerning Lilith, I shall explain to you the essence of the matter. Concerning this point there is a received tradition from the ancient Sages who made use of the Secret Knowledge of the Lesser Palaces, which is the manipulation of demons and a ladder by which one ascends to the prophetic levels. In this tradition it is made clear that Samael and Lilith were born as one, similar to the form of Adam and Eve who were also born as one, reflecting what is above. This is the account of Lilith which was received by the Sages in the Secret Knowledge of the Palaces.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=231}}</blockquote>

Another version<ref name=shed>{{cite web| url = http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13523-shedim| title = Jewish Encyclopedia demonology}}</ref> that was also current among Kabbalistic circles in the Middle Ages establishes Lilith as the first of Samael's four wives: Lilith, [[Naamah (demon)|Naamah]], [[Eisheth]], and [[Agrat bat Mahlat]]. Each of them are mothers of demons and have their own hosts and unclean spirits in no number.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=244}} The marriage of archangel Samael and Lilith was arranged by [[Tanin'iver]] ("Blind Dragon"), who is the counterpart of "the dragon that is in the sea". Blind Dragon acts as an intermediary between Lilith and Samael:

<blockquote>Blind Dragon rides Lilith the Sinful – may she be extirpated quickly in our days, Amen! – And this Blind Dragon brings about the union between Samael and Lilith. And just as ''the Dragon that is in the sea'' (Isa. 27:1) has no eyes, likewise Blind Dragon that is above, in the likeness of a spiritual form, is without eyes, that is to say, without colors.... (Patai 81:458) Samael is called the Slant Serpent, and Lilith is called the Tortuous Serpent.<ref>Humm, Alan. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/lilsam.html Lilith, Samael, & Blind Dragon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970222083416/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/lilsam.html |date=22 February 1997 }}</ref></blockquote>

The marriage of Samael and Lilith is known as the "Angel Satan" or the "Other God", but it was not allowed to last. To prevent Lilith and Samael's demonic children ''Lilin'' from filling the world, God [[Castration|castrated]] Samael. In many 17th century Kabbalistic books, this seems to be a reinterpretation of an old Talmudic myth where God castrated the male [[Leviathan]] and slew the female Leviathan in order to prevent them from mating and thereby destroying the Earth with their offspring.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=246}} With Lilith being unable to fornicate with Samael anymore, she sought to couple with men who experience nocturnal emissions. A 15th or 16th century Kabbalah text<!-- Which one? --> states that God has "cooled" the female Leviathan, meaning that he has made Lilith infertile and she is a mere fornication.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

[[File:Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem - The Fall of Man - WGA05250.jpg|thumb|''The Fall of Man'' by [[Cornelis van Haarlem]] (1592), showing the serpent in the Garden of Eden as a woman]]

The ''Treatise on the Left Emanation'' also says that there are two Liliths, the lesser being married to the great demon [[Asmodai|Asmodeus]].

<blockquote>The Matron Lilith is the mate of Samael. Both of them were born at the same hour in the image of Adam and Eve, intertwined in each other. Asmodeus the great king of the demons has as a mate the Lesser (younger) Lilith, daughter of the king whose name is Qafsefoni. The name of his mate is Mehetabel daughter of Matred, and their daughter is Lilith.<ref>R. Isaac b. Jacob Ha-Kohen. (1986) [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/jacob_ha_kohen.html "Lilith in Jewish Mysticism: Treatise on the Left Emanation"] in Joseph Dan, ed. ''The Early Kabbalah'', New York: Pauilist Press, pp. 172-182. {{ISBN|0809127695}}</ref></blockquote>

Another passage charges Lilith as being a tempting serpent of Eve.

<blockquote>
And the Serpent, the Woman of Harlotry, incited and seduced Eve through the husks of Light which in itself is holiness. And the Serpent seduced Holy Eve, and enough said for him who understands. And all this ruination came about because Adam the first man coupled with Eve while she was in her menstrual impurity – this is the filth and the impure seed of the Serpent who mounted Eve before Adam mounted her. Behold, here it is before you: because of the sins of Adam the first man all the things mentioned came into being. For Evil Lilith, when she saw the greatness of his corruption, became strong in her husks, and came to Adam against his will, and became hot from him and bore him many demons and spirits and Lilin. (Patai81:455f)
</blockquote>

==== Zohar ====
References to Lilith in the Zohar include the following:{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=233}}

<blockquote>She roams at night, and goes all about the world and makes sport with men and causes them to emit seed. In every place where a man sleeps alone in a house, she visits him and grabs him and attaches herself to him and has her desire from him, and bears from him. And she also afflicts him with sickness, and he knows it not, and all this takes place when the moon is on the wane.</blockquote>

This passage may be related to the mention of Lilith in Talmud Shabbath 151b (see above), and also to Talmud Eruvin 18b where [[nocturnal emissions]] are connected with the begettal of demons.

According to Rapahel Patai, older sources state clearly that after Lilith's Red Sea sojourn (mentioned also in [[Louis Ginzberg]]'s ''Legends of the Jews''), she returned to Adam and begat children from him by forcing herself upon him. Before doing so, she attaches herself to [[Cain]] and bears him numerous spirits and demons. In the Zohar, however, Lilith is said to have succeeded in begetting offspring from Adam even during their short-lived sexual experience. Lilith leaves Adam in Eden, as she is not a suitable helpmate for him.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=232}} [[Gershom Scholem]] proposes that the author of the Zohar, [[Rabbi Moses de Leon]], was aware of both the folk tradition of Lilith and another conflicting version, possibly older.<ref>Scholem, Gershom (1941) ''[[Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism]]''. p. 174.</ref>

The Zohar adds further that two female spirits instead of one, Lilith and [[Naamah (demon)|Naamah]], desired Adam and seduced him. The issue of these unions were demons and spirits called "the plagues of humankind", and the usual added explanation was that it was through Adam's own sin that Lilith overcame him against his will.{{sfnp|Patai|1990|p=232}}

=== 17th-century Hebrew magical amulets ===
[[File:Medieval amulet to protect mother and child. Wellcome M0008070.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Medieval Hebrew amulet intended to protect a mother and her child from Lilith]]

A copy of [[Jean de Pauly]]'s translation of the Zohar in the [[Ritman Library]] contains an inserted late 17th century printed Hebrew sheet for use in magical amulets where the prophet [[Elijah]] confronts Lilith.<ref>"Printed sheet, late 17th century or early 18th century, 185x130 mm.</ref>

The sheet contains two texts within borders, which are amulets, one for a male ('lazakhar'), the other one for a female ('lanekevah'). The invocations mention Adam, Eve and Lilith, 'Chavah Rishonah' (the first Eve, who is identical with Lilith), also devils or angels: Sanoy, Sansinoy, Smangeluf, Shmari'el (the guardian) and Hasdi'el (the merciful). A few lines in Yiddish are followed by the dialogue between the prophet Elijah and Lilith when he met her with her host of demons to kill the mother and take her new-born child ('to drink her blood, suck her bones and eat her flesh'). She tells Elijah that she will lose her power if someone uses her secret names, which she reveals at the end: ''lilith, abitu, abizu, hakash, avers hikpodu, ayalu, matrota ...''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/exh/kabb/kab_pheb_25.html |title=Lilith Amulet-J.R. Ritman Library |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212053545/http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/exh/kabb/kab_pheb_25.html |archive-date=12 February 2010 }}</ref>

In other amulets, probably informed by ''The Alphabet of Ben-Sira'', she is Adam's first wife. ([[Yalqut Reubeni]], Zohar 1:34b, 3:19<ref>Humm, Alan. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/origin.html Kabbalah: Lilith's origins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991008210815/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Ehumm/Topics/Lilith/origin.html |date=8 October 1999 }}</ref>)

[[Charles Richardson (lexicographer)|Charles Richardson]]'s dictionary portion of the ''[[Encyclopædia Metropolitana]]'' appends to his etymological discussion of ''lullaby'' "a [manuscript] note written in a copy of Skinner" [i.e. [[Stephen Skinner (lexicographer)|Stephen Skinner]]'s 1671 ''Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ''], which asserts that the word ''lullaby'' originates from {{Transliteration|he|Lillu abi abi}}, a Hebrew incantation meaning "Lilith begone" recited by Jewish mothers over an infant's cradle.<ref name="Richardson1845">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Charles |last=Richardson |author-link=Charles Richardson (lexicographer) |editor1-last=Smedley |editor1-first=Edward |editor2-last=Rose |editor2-first=Hugh James |editor3-last=Rose |editor3-first=Edward John |title=Encyclopædia Metropolitana |date=1845 |volume=XXI |location=London |pages=597–598 |publisher=B. Fellowes; etc., etc. |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2645836&view=1up&seq=607 |access-date=18 June 2020 |language=en |article=Lexicon: Lull, Lullaby}}</ref> Richardson did not endorse the theory and modern lexicographers consider it a [[false etymology]].<ref name="Richardson1845"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=lullaby |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lullaby |dictionary=Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=18 June 2020 |language=en}}; {{cite encyclopedia |title=lullaby |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=lullaby |dictionary=[[American Heritage Dictionary]] |edition=5th |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |access-date=18 June 2020}}; {{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Simpson |editor1-first=John A. |title=The Oxford English dictionary |date=1989 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=93 |volume=IX |isbn=978-0-19-861221-6 |edition=2nd |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordenglishdic09simp/page/93 |access-date=18 June 2020 |article=lullaby |via=Internet Archive |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>

=== Alsatian Krasmesser (16th to 20th century) ===
Not so much an [[amulet]] as a ritual object for protection, the "Krasmesser" (or "Kreismesser", circle knife) played a role in Jewish birth rituals in the area of [[Alsace]], [[Switzerland]] and Southern Germany between the 16th and 20th century. The Krasmesser would be used by a [[midwife]] or by the husband to draw a [[magic circle]] around the pregnant or birthing woman to protect her from Lilith and the [[evil eye]], which were considered to represent the greatest danger for children and pregnant women.<ref name="Lubrich-2022">{{Cite book |title=Birth Culture. Jewish Testimonies from Rural Switzerland and Environs |year=2022 |isbn=978-3796546075 |editor-last=Lubrich |editor-first=Naomi |location=Basel |pages=9–35 |language=de, en}}</ref>

Rabbi Naphtali Hirsch ben Elieser Treves described this custom as early as 1560, and later references to a knife or sword by the birthing bed by both [[Paul Christian Kirchner]] and [[Johann Christian Georg Bodenschatz]] indicate its continuance. A publication about birth customs by the [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]] also includes oral accounts from 20th century [[Baden-Württemberg]] which likewise mention circling movements with a knife in order to protect a woman in childbirth.<ref name="Lubrich-2022" />