Kabbala: Lilith's Origins
Note that the following passages are either informed
by or related to the traditions of Lilith as Adam's first
wife, referred to in the Alphabet of Ben Sira. Scholem concluded that
references to Lilith in the Zohar were based on the
Alphabet. [AH]
Yalqut Reubeni, B'reshit 34b
In the beginning the Holy One, blessed
be He, created Eve, and she was not flesh but the scum of
the earth and its impure sediments, and she was a harmful
spirit [i.e., Lilith]. And the Holy One, blessed be He,
took her away from Adam and gave him another in her
stead. (Patai81:453)
Zohar 1:34b
When the letters of the name of Adam,
descended below, together in their completeness, the male
and the female were found together, and the female was
attached to his side, until God cast a deep slumber upon
him and he fell asleep. And he lay in the place of the
Temple below. And the Holy One, blessed be He, sawed her
off him, and adorned her as they adorn a bride, and
brought her to him.... In an ancient book I found that
this [refers to] the primeval Lilith who was with him and
conceived from him, but was not a helpmeet for him....
(Patai81:454)
Zohar 3:19
Come and see: There is a female, a
spirit of all spirits, and her name is Lilith, and she
was at first with Adam. And in the hour when Adam was
created and his body became completed, a thousand spirits
from the left [evil] side clung to that body until the
Holy One, blessed be He, shouted at them and drove them
away. And Adam was lying, a body without a spirit, and
his appearance was green, and all those spirits
surrounded him.
In that hour a cloud descended an pushed away all
those spirits.
And when Adam stood up, his female was attached to
his side. And that holy spirit which was in him spread
out to this side and that side, and grew here and there,
and thus became complete. Thereafter the Holy One,
blessed be He, sawed Adam into two, and made the female.
And He brought her to Adam in her perfection like a bride
to the canopy.
When Lilith saw this, she fled. And she is in the
cities of the sea, and she is still trying to harm the
sons of the world.
(Patai81:455)
Moses b. Solomon of Burgos
In contrast to the above, the following passages
appear to be unaware of any tradition of Lilith as Adam's
first wife. Rather, she is mated to Samael (King of the
demons, something like Satan) from the beginning
Lilith is called the Northerner,
because Out of the north the evil breaks forth
(Jer. 1:14). Both Samael, king of the demons, and Lilith
were born in a spiritual birth androgynously. The Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil is an epithet for both Samael
and Grandmother Lilith (e.g. the Northerner). As a result
of Adam's sin, both of them came and confused the whole
world, both the Upper one and the Nether one.
(based on the ed. of G. Scholem, quoted in
Patai81:453)
R. Ya'aqov and R. Yitzhaq
Samael resembles the form of Adam, and
Lilith the form of Eve. Both were born in an androgynous
form, corresponding to the form of Adam and Eve: below
and above, two twin forms. And Samael and Grandmother Eve
[i.e., Lilith], who is the Northerner, are emanations
from beneath the Throne of Glory. And the sin [of Adam]
caused this evil.
(Patai81:453)
Zohar 1:19b
After the primeval light was hidden, a
husk was created for the brain, and that husk spread out
and brought forth another husk which was Lilith. And when
she emerged, she went up and went down towards the little
faces, and wanted to
attach herself to them and be shaped after them, and did
not want to depart from them. But the Holy One, blessed
be He, removed her from there and placed her down below.
When He created Adam, in order to perfect this world,
as soon as Lilith saw Eve affixed to the side of Adam,
and saw in them the beauty of the Above, and saw their
perfect image, she flew off from there and wanted, as
before to attach herself to the little faces. But the
guardians of the gates of Above did not Let her. The Holy
One, blessed be He, rebuked her, and cast her into the
depths of the sea, and she remained dwelling there until
Adam and his wife sinned. Then the Holy One, blessed be
He, brought her up from the depths of the sea and gave
her power over all those children, the little faces of
the sons of man, who are liable to punishment because of
the sins of their fathers. And she went and roamed the
world.
She approached the gates of Paradise on earth, and
saw the Cherubim guarding the gates of Paradise, and sat
down facing the Flaming Sword, for she originated from
that flame. When that flame revolved, she fled. And she
roams in the world, and finds children liable to
punishment, and caresses them, and kills them. And all
this is because of the diminishing of the moon which
reduced its light....
When Cain was born, she could not attach herself to
him. But later she approached him and bore spirits and
winged demons. For 130 years Adam had intercourse with
female spirits, until Naamah came. Because of her beauty
the sons of God went astray after her, 'Ussa and 'Azael,
and she bore from them, and from her spread evil. spirits
and demons in the world....
(Patai81:454f)
And she goes and roams the world at night, and makes
sport with men and causes them to emit seed. And wherever
men are found sleeping alone in a house, they [these
spirits] descend upon them and get hold of them and
adhere to them and take desire from them and bear from
them. And they also afflict them with disease, and the
men do not know it. And all this is because of the
diminishing of the moon.
(Patai81:461)
On this last paragraph, see the Seductress passages
Bacharach, 'Emeq haMelekh 23c-d
This passage is interesting because it is one of the
few places where we get a textual connection (however
problematic) between Lilith and the Serpent of the Garden
of Eden [see also Zohar, Sitre Tora, 1:148a-b]. This connection is
perhaps strengthened by Christian iconography (see the pictures collection), but
can hardly be regarded as conclusive. While contacts
between Jewish and Christian mystical and alchemical
speculation did exist, the pervasiveness of the
iconographic symbol is such that we would have to posit a
much more widely circulated Christian version of the
story that we would obtain from elite mystical
cross-talk.
The other problem with this story is the gender
confusion. At first we assume that the Lilith-Serpent's
'seduction' of Eve is intellectual. Then we find out that
not only did the Serpent have sexual intercourse with
Eve, but that Eve was a virgin at the time and it is that
union, specifically the Serpent's semen, that is the
etiology of menstruation! Finally, Adam has sexual
contact with his wife, but it is while she is still
polluted by her menstruation/adultery. That impure act
generates magical power for Lilith who is now able to
have sexual dominion over Adam as well, bearing demon
children from him. There is however one problem. If
Lilith is female (she is!) and Lilith is the Serpent, as
we are told in this passage ('Woman of Harlotry =
Lilith), how can she have intercourse with Eve. This is
not simply lesbian sex, in the strictest sense, because
she injects semen into Eve.
There is at least one parallel passage in which the
serpent is identified with Samael and Cain is the result of the union. In this
case, Samael being male, the gender problem does not
arise. It may be possible to solve the problem in the
following text (and coincidentally harmonize it with the
Samael version) by reference to the tradition, mentioned above, that Lilith and Samael
were at one time, like Adam and Eve, an androgynous pair. This may well
be reading more into the text than we should, however, at
least from the standpoint of scholarship (homilists may
do what they please). It is never-the-less clear from the
following that Adam and Eve are not viewed as joined in
that fashion at the time the events are transpiring.
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. An 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)
