THE BGDK OF LILITH Barbara Black Kolhiv, Ph.D. Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Berwick, Maine First published in 1986 by Nicolas Hays, Inc. P-O. Box 540206 Lake Worth, FL 334540206 Distributed by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC 65 Parker St. Ste. 7 Newburyport, MA 01950-4600 © Barbara Black Koltuv, 1986. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, v/ithout permission in writing from Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Reviewers may quote brief passages. Library of Congress Cataloging-ln-Publication Data Koltuv, Barbara Black. The Book of Lilith. Bibliography: p. 1. Lilith (Semitic mythology) L Title. BL1605.LS5K651986 291.2’16 86*8398 ISBN-13 978-0-89254-014-3 Printed in the United States of America V6 10 09 08 07 15 14 13 12 11 The cover is a painting entitled Sensuality, by Franz von Stuck. From the collection of Mr. Abe Somer, Los Angeles, CA. Used by permission. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39-48-1992 (Ri997). TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface The Talmud on Lilith Introduction Chapter I: origins Chapter II: life and deeds Chapter III: lilith. the seductress Chapter IV: lilith and the daughters of eve Chapter V: cast out and redeemed Bibliography For Solomon and the Little Faces PREFACE Lilith, the longhaired she demon of the night, eluded this anthology for years. Eventually, I began to understand. She is a force, a power, a quality, a renegade. A Free Spirit. She hates to be pinned (penned) down by the Word. It Is notable that most of the words about Lilith appear In the Zohar, The Book of Splendor, a Kabballstic work of the thirteenth century, by men, warning other men against her powers. The weight of their words, the heavy chains of iron that bound her In the sixth century amulets Intended to banish her, and the weight of Adam's body lording It over her during their marital embrace, are anathema to Lilith. They cause her to flee. And each time I attempted to write about her with words, she escaped to the edge of the Red Sea, or the wilderness, or flew up to heaven to consort with cherubs and God, until finally like Solomon and Elijah, and God's three angels, I made a deal with her: I would repeat all the stories and myths and legends told by the men, and at the same time Lilith would have her Way. She anointed her body with oil and danced naked in the desert before an open fire. She danced, I watched, until I felt the meaning of her movements in my own body and soul. Only then could I begin to write of Lilith and the children of Eve. BBK TH E TALM и d1 ON LILITH Lilith, a notorious night demon, grows long hair. (B. Er. ioob) Lilith, a female demon of the night, has a human likeness, but she also has wings. (B. Nido 24b) Rabbi Jerimia ben Eleazar further stated: *'ln those years, after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, in which Adam the first man, was under the ban, he begot ghosts and male demons and female night demons, or Liliths." Rabbi Meir said: "Adam ... severed his connection with his wife for a hundred and thirty years, and wore clothes of fig vines on his body for a hundred and thirty years ... . That statement, about Adam begetting Lilim, was made in reference to the semen he emitted accidently." (B. Er. 18b). Rabbi Hanina said: "One may not sleep alone in a house, for whoever sleeps alone in a house is seized by Lilith.” (B. Shab. i$ib) 'iThe Talmud quoted throughout this book is the Hebrew-English edition of The Babylonian Talmud, edited by Rabbi I. Epstein, and published by Socino Press, London, 1978. Introduction Lilith, an irresistible, long haired, she demon of the night, flies through Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Canaanite, Persian, Hebrew, Arabic, and Teutonic mythology. During the third millenium b.c. in Sumer, she was at first Lily a destructive storm or wind spirit. Among the Semites of Mesopotamia, she was Lilith, who later, con^bulated with layil (the Hebrew word for night) became Lilith, a night demon who lays hold of men and women who sleep alone, causing erotic dreams and nocturnal orgasm. By the eighth century b.c. in Syria, Lilith, the succubus, was joined to what had originally been a quite distinct demonic figure of the child killing witch Lamashtu. In this form, Lilith, Winged One and Strangleress, became known throughout the world by the appellations Dame Donkey Legs, Vixen Bogey, Blood Sucker, Woman of Harlotry, Alien Woman, Impure Female, End of all Flesh, End of Day, brvha, strega, witch, hag, snatcher and enchantress. She was called serpent, dog, donkey and owl, screeching night jar or strix, and the soul of eve^ living creature that creepeth. She was Adam's first wife, the female of Leviathan, the wife of Samael the Devil and King Ashmodai, the Queen of Sheba and Zamargad, and is even the consort of God himself while the Shekhina Is in exile. Attempts to suppress and deny her date from the sixth century BC, but she returns evermore, as a seductress and child killer, and will continue to do so until the Messiah comes and drives the unclean spirits from the land (Zech. 13:2 )This book, a psychological anthology, is an attempt to tell her story, to evoke her presence in consciousness, and to inquire into her meaning in the modern psyche. ^Bible references in this book are from The Jerusalem Bible (Doubleday, New York, 1966), and The Holy Scriptures Accordiagto the Masoreiic Text, Volumes I and II (Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1955).