1. Lilith: The Original Nasty Woman
The History Channel:
Banned from the Bible (video)

2. Layers of Jewish sacred texts
Approaching the Text
Jewish literature is inverse pyramid
Bible at base; expands into midrasnhic literature
Studying the Torah is the “dominant religious preoccupation through history of Judaism”
You do not read the Torah, you study it
Rabbinic Literature
(Misnah, Talmud, Midrash)
Bible (Tanakh)
Torah
(First 5 books)

3. Rabbinic Literature as Interpretation
Rabbinic Literature ( CE)
Mishnah (studying Bible in systematic order) , Talmud (focus on Jewish law), Midrash (studying Bible by following order of Bible)
Seeks answers to religious questions (both practical and theological)
Response to contemporary problems
crafting new stories that make connections between new Jewish realities and unchanging Biblical texts
built on Biblical material, but not in the Hebrew Bible itself
Folktales / Legends

4. Babylonian Origins for Jewish Mythology
“Wildcats shall meet with hyenas,
Goat-demons shall call to each other.
There too Lilith shall repose
And find a place to rest”
- Isaiah 34:14
Only Reference to Lilith in the text
Isaiah primarily focused on the oncoming judgement
Negative view of Lilith (in both Rabbinic literature and Babylonian lore) from very early point
nighttime creature
represented by screech owl

5. Lilith & Eve in Genesis
Genesis 1-3, discrepancies in creation of humans
Two women
1st woman - Lilith
Never appears by name, but answers questions about the issues with the text
2nd woman - Eve

6. “Lilith and Eve in the Later Tradition”
What kind of text is this? Characters? Plot?
Lilith refuses inequality
Lilith demonized and erased
God makes effort to control undesirable behavior in making Eve
What is the nature and role of women based on these stories (but not representative of all Jewish understandings of women)?
Nature vs Social constructions…

7. The Coming of Lilith: Basic Plot
Lilith and Adam: Created equally; creates issues of control and honor
Eve and Adam: Hierarchical relationship due to creation order
Adam and God: Figuring it out together - bromance
Adam’s description of Lilith to Eve: Fear… Social construction
Role of Apple Tree in this version: Knowledge is freedom
Focus: Sisterhood, Equality, Respect, and Wholeness of personality

8. From an emic perspective, What are your options when you disagree with gender constructions within your own tradition?

9. Working through the story
Lilith and Adam
Eve and Adam: Hierarchical relationship due to creation order
Adam and God
Adam’s description of Lilith to Eve
Role of Apple Tree in this version
Focus?

10. Judith Plaskow: “The Coming of Lilith”
Contest role of woman and interpretations
Self-conscious working through
Retells the story of Lilith
Result?
Built on story most literate, informed Jews would know
Next time you read, you’ll remember Plaskow’s version
By doing so, she can dispute and contest roles the traditional stories presenting an alternative interpretation
One voice in complicated, diverse Jewish world