I have heard that Lillith was actually the first woman, before Eve. Is this true?
I have come across Lilith in literture twice, but never among my Jewish friends.
The first time that I read and connected with the person of Lilith was in a book called "Adiel" by Shlomo DuNour. I came across it while browsing at Barnes & Noble. The book won the Jerusalem Prize for Literature and was touted as "a re-telling of the Old Testament story of the Bible, from the Creation of Adam and Eve through the ten generations, culminating in Noah and the Flood." It seemed like a good gamble. It wasn't. The book depicts an angel named Lillith whose physical desire for Adam leads her to eliminate Eve. She employs the serpent by promising him sexual favors. This was a bad read and I thought that Lillith was a poor contrivance, although the name seemed vaguely familiar.
Not long after, we began reading CS Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" out loud at dinner. In the chapter entitled "What Happened After Dinner" Mr. Beaver says that the white witch came from "your father Adam's first wife, her they called Lilith." I have read this book at least five times and never once picked up on this. CS Lewis was probably aware of this story from medieval literature and art. Why he chose to use it is beyond me. He may have retracted the position by providing a different origin for her in "The Magician's Nephew." But we have not got that far in our readings yet, so who knows.
Even with DuNour's book and the Lewis reference, I made no attempt to find out more, until I got your e-mail this morning. I guessed that Lilith would be part of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). This would explain why there was no discussion among my Jewish friends and why there are strong sexuual connotaions with the story. I was right on both counts.
1. Lilith arises as Adam's first wife because of the struggle some Rabbis had with the sixth day of creation-where God creates male and female-and Genesis 2 which implies Eve being created later. Lilith was created from the dust of the earth just as Adam was. She rebelled, spoke the Name of God, and disappeared.
2. She becomes a demon responsible for death in young children and the source of nocturnal emissions in men (the succubus).
I am leaving it with that. I find no real fascination with this story and now know more than I ever would have cared to know. The character of Adam is demeaned by these tales. There is no potential glory of man created in the image of God, which makes the fall so terrible. Adam and Lilith are both petty creatures.
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