Which Lilith?: Feminist Writers Re-Create the World's First Woman

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jewish lore indicates that Eve was not Adam's first wife. Mentioned in the Talmud and elaborated on in the Midrash and Kabbalistic writings, Lilith is said to be Adam's first partner. While the figure of Lilith may be as old as Jewish culture itself, until recently her stories were told primarily by men and their depiction of Lilith was consistent: she was a witch, a temptress, a dangerous, evil woman. This anthology offers a vivid, provocative, and enlightening sampling of Jewish women's responses to the Lilith myth.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

In the language of cult and myth, Lilith comes down to us as "the demon of waste places who preys on males." She steals new babies from this life and provides the malevolent source of nocturnal emissions. In this eclectic mix of poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction, editors Dame (poet and lecturer, New Jersey Inst. of Technology), Henny Wenkart (editor, Jewish Women's Literary Annual), and Lilly Rivlin (writer and filmmaker) cogitate upon who and what Lilith is. This is not a scholarly work but a stab at "contemporary midrash" (a commentary on biblical text) that targets Jewish women's reflections because "Jewish women have a need to imagine Lilith." At times radical and challenging, at others simply pedestrian, it makes its contribution more in subject matter than content, for Lilith is definitely in need of further study. Recommended for women's and Jewish studies collections.--Sandra Collins, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Lib.

E. M. Broner - Tikkun