{"id":66668,"date":"2019-12-08T22:09:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T20:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66668"},"modified":"2023-07-03T14:31:33","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T11:31:33","slug":"lilith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lilith\/","title":{"rendered":"Lilith\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Isaiah 34:14 contains an end-of-days prophecy in which \u201cwildcats shall meet hyenas [and] goat-demons shall greet each other. There, too, the lilith shall repose and find herself a resting place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hebrew word that is translated here as \u201cthe lilith\u201d has been elsewhere translated as \u201cscreech owl,\u201d \u201cnight creature,\u201d \u201cnight bird,\u201d \u201cnight monster,\u201d \u201cnight owl,\u201d and \u201cLilith.\u201d\u00a0 Whatever the English translation, the Hebrew word <\/span>lilit<\/span><\/em> comes from \u05dc\u05d9\u05dc (layil<\/em>), or \u05dc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 (lailah<\/em>), meaning ‘night.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Lilith entered the world stage roughly 2,500 years BCE via the Sumerian King List and <\/span>The Epic of Gilgamesh<\/span><\/i>. In the centuries that followed, this demon of the night seduced men and bore them ghostly children; she was a harlot and a vampire; she was a threat to infants and to women in childbirth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her first <\/span>Jewish<\/span><\/em> incarnation is in Isaiah 34:14. \u2018Lilith\u2019 is a word that appears only once in the Bible, a <\/span>hapax legomenon<\/span><\/em><\/a>. We can surmise from the context that she is something dark and foreboding, appearing alongside hyenas and goat-demons during the End of Days. Lilith\u2019s appearance in Isaiah without definition or explanation indicates that Jews of the Isaian age would have known who — or what — Lilith was, without needing explanation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A kind of Near Eastern bogeyman, it is likely that the Jews borrowed Lilith from their neighbors, that this demon made her way from Sumerian-Babylonian lore to strike fear in the hearts of the Jewish people. By the time of the writing of Isaiah, Lilith was an integral part of Jewish culture and society.<\/span><\/p>\n

From this point on, Lilith is a distinctly Jewish figure. She is warned against in the Mishnah and Talmud, and when the mystical rabbis ask why Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 appear to tell two different stories of the creation of womankind, the answer is that there were, in fact, two \u2018first\u2019 women created; before Eve, there was Lilith. And when she did not submit to the patriarchal gender hierarchy Adam sought to impose upon her, she escaped the Garden of Eden and became a demon. The Zohar took Lilith to new heights; according to Kabbalistic lore, she reigns alongside God on the throne of heaven, where she will sit until the world is free from sin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the rabbis of the middle ages, Lilith\u2019s tale was one of warning: women who do not submit to their husbands will be banished and demonized, replaced. But in the modern age, standing up for gender equality is — to many — inspiration rather than a horror story. With the rise of Jewish feminism,<\/span> Lilith has been reclaimed<\/span><\/a> and repurposed. For the first time in her nearly 5,000-year history, she is seen as a heroine and celebrated for her sacrifice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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