Lilith: The Original Feminist

Alphabet of Ben Sira: pg. 204

When God created man and woman together, he created both Adam and Lilith from the dust of the soil. According to the story, they immediately began to fight. It seemed as if Lilith, who was made from the same material was man, was arguably more equivalent to Adam than Eve. In other words, Lilith was an example of a woman with the same status as a man. Thus, she had the power and nature to fight him, or equal him. Many have argued that because Eve was created from Adam, she was inferior to him. Lilith, although a woman like Eve, was made from the same material as man, and thus, equal to Adam. She consistently demonstrated this, by saying, "You shall lie below, for we are equal and both of us were created from the earth." As such, Lilith was the original feminist. The two did not listen to each other, and she actually flew away from Adam. Adam prayed to God to retrieve her, and He sent three angels after her. They seized her and told her she could either come with them or they would drown her. She merely answered them by saying, "Darlings, I know myself that God created me only to afflict babies with fatal disease when they are eight days old; I shall have permission to harm them from their birth to the eighth day and no longer; when it is a male baby; but when it is a female baby, I shall have permission for twelve days."

The fact that Lilith, a feminist, had the ability to harm young babies. She was a symbol of death and illness. Why would a feminist be given the ability to harm young babies. Perhaps this was an allegory for abortion, since feminists tend to believe in "pro-choice," since they generally believe it is the choice of the mother's to decided whether the embryo should survive in the womb. Since Lilith had the ability to harm babies, she had the ability to abort them. Thus, Lilith demonstrated her abilities associated with death and illness. Her ability to control her life according to her will exemplified her feminist qualities. However, Lilith being a symbol of death could merely be a way for the author to discourage women from being like Lilith, since she brought illness and disease into the world. Because she was equal and rebellious towards Adam, Lilith represented a threat to Adam, and thus, he would try to make Lilith seem evil in order to prevent her from gaining more power over him.

"The Coming of Lilith: Toward a Feminist Theology": Judith Plaskow

In Plaskow's story of Lilith, the Alphabet of Ben Sira was used as a basic infrastructure. Much like before, Lilith and Adam were created together, they fought, and Lilith fled, because she could not tolerate Adam. According to rabbinic legend, Adam's first wife was Lilith. Adam ordered Lilith to do certain things, and she refused to be pushed around by Adam, her equal. The equality between Adam and Lilith was an original demonstration of feminism in theological legend. However, Plaskow explained, that the feminism did not lie within the rebellion and equality between the man and the woman, but the sisterhood between Lilith and Eve.

When she fled, because she could not live with him, possibly because of her equality to him, Adam needed another mate, so God created Eve, much like in Genesis 2, when God caused a great slumber to fall over Adam, and he created Eve from his rib. Adam and Eve got along great, but Eve was disturbed by the closeness between God and Adam. She realized that Adam and God were very much alike, while she was not like him. God also became disturbed because he realized how much power Adam had gotten, considering he told God to banish Lilith and it had been so.

Then, Lilith repeatedly tried to penetrate the walls of Eden. Adam had Eve help him make the walls stronger, and told Eve that Lilith inflicted disease and death among children and those bearing children. When Lilith finally broke through the gates, she was finally defeated by Adam. However, Eve recognized that Lilith and her were very similar. Eve became very interested in Lilith, admiring her beauty and strength. Because of this, Eve began to question her limits within the Garden. She realized that Lilith, a woman like herself, had taken control of her own destiny, and was able to break the limits of the walls of Eden. This cause Eve to climb over the walls of Eden, and seek out Lilith. The two immediately bonded and shared their stories and secrets together, much like women do today. This, Plaskow argued, was the beginning of feminism, in which a sisterhood was established between two women who recognized they were equal to men. Because of this growing sisterhood between the two, both God and Adam feared the possibilities that the two had together.

Could Lilith be the "snake" in the garden? Perhaps, this would make sense. Eve and Lilith (the theoretical snake) could have formed a great deal of trust and faith in one another. If Lilith told Eve that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was not harmful, and contained the means of acquiring knowledge, Eve would trust her. Furthermore, Lilith and Eve would want to acquire knowledge, because it would therefore establish dominance over Adam. This would explain why Adam would eat the fruit, so that the two would not surpass him in knowledge. Or, perhaps, Eve and Lilith decided to bring down Adam with them, since they knew the possible consequences of their actions. Either way, it could be considered that Lilith was a figurative snake in Genesis 2-3. Lilith would also tie together the two Genesis stories. Since man and woman were created together in Genesis 1, this would imply that both Lilith and Adam were created together. Then, since Adam was lonely, since Lilith fled, God decided to create Eve from Adam's rib, much like the story goes. Furthermore, the story of Lilith and Eve would explain why Eve desired to eat from the tree of knowledge, since she became uneasy about the close relationship and resemblance between God and Adam. Her loyalty and sisterhood to Lilith would be a very potential motif in her wanting to acquire knowledge from the fruit.