Editing Lilith (section)

=== 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}}