LILITH THE ORIGINAL NASTY WOMAN The History Channel

LILITH: THE ORIGINAL NASTY WOMAN The History Channel: Banned from the Bible (video)

LAYERS OF JEWISH SACRED TEXTS • Approaching the Text • Jewish literature is inverse pyramid • • Rabbinic Literature (Misnah, Talmud, Midrash) 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 Bible (Tanakh) Torah (First 5 books)

RABBINIC LITERATURE AS INTERPRETATION • Rabbinic Literature (100 - 600 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

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

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

“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…

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

F ROM AN EMIC PERSPECTIVE , W HAT ARE YOUR OPTIONSWHEN YOU DISAGREEWITH GENDER CONSTRUCTIONS WITHINYOUR OWN TRADITION ?

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?

JUDITH PLASKOW: “THE COMING OF LILITH” • • • 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