Among the many superstitions surround childbirth in the Jewish culture is that the mother and newborn should not be left alone in the first few days.  This is to protect them from the wrath of Lilith who may come at night and either steal the child or dry up the mother`s milk.

There are myths about Lilith in many cultures but in the Talmud she is thought to have been Adam`s first wife.  Some texts claim that she begat children from Adam, others say she was barren and had dry breasts.

The idea that Adam had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from contradictory verses in the Book of Genesis. Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from Adam's rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman had been made: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." The Ben Sira text places Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18 that "it is not good for man to be alone"; in this text God forms Lilith out of the clay from which he made Adam but she and Adam bicker. Lilith claims that since she and Adam were created in the same way they were equal and she refuses to submit to him:

  After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.

  Today there is a feminist magazine named Lilith.

  Wendy Blumfield

  NCT Trained Tutor ANT/BFC

  Israel Childbirth Education Centre


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