Editing Lilith (section)

=== 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>}}