Watch out for Agrat. She roams about in the company of eighteen myriads of angels of death, all of whom kill by strangulation. It is dangerous to go out on Wednesday night or the eve of the Sabbath because of them.
As for the Queen of Sheba, she seeks out men to seduce, just like her mother. She comes to them whether awake or asleep and steals their seed and bears them demonic offspring.
The accounts of Rabbah bar Bar Hannah take the form of tall tales, on land and sea. This one recounts how he reached the city of Mehuza and saw Hurmin, Lilith’s son, performing stunts. Rabbah’s tales are generally interpreted as allegories. Here Rabbi Samuel ben Meir (1083-1174), known as Rashbam, sees Hurmin as representing the Yetzer ha-Ra, the Evil Inclination. The cavalryman is the Tzaddik who makes a great effort to perform the mitzvot, the commandments. The juggling of the cups indicates that every misdeed against Israel will be duly punished.
While Lilith is undoubtedly the primary Jewish demoness, there are several other demonesses who make their mark in Jewish lore, especially Na’amah, Agrat, and the Queen of Sheba. So it is not surprising that they are sometimes identified as the daughters of Lilith. Their functions are virtually identical to those of Lilith: seducing men and leading them astray, and giving birth to demons, including mutant demons fathered by human men. See “Demonic Doubles,” p. 230.
Sources:
B. Bava Batra 73a; Numbers Rabbah 12:1; Tzefunot ve-Aggadot.
269. THE NIGHT DEMONESS
Using the power of God’s Name, King Solomon compelled the demon Ornasis to reveal the names of all the other demons. One of those he named was Obyzouth. No sooner did the demon pronounce her name than Solomon saw what seemed to be a woman, whose body and limbs were veiled by her long hair.
Solomon said to her, “Who are you?” She replied, “Who are you, and why do you want to know who I am? But if you wish to know this, then go into the royal chambers, wash your hands, seat yourself on your throne again, and ask me. Then you will learn who I am.”
And after King Solomon had done these things, he asked her again who she was, and she replied: “Men call me Obyzouth. At night I go around the whole world and visit women about to give birth. As soon as the child is born, I do my best to strangle it. If I fail, I leave at once and go somewhere else, because I cannot let a single night pass without success. I have nothing else to do but kill children.”
When King Solomon heard this, he said. “Tell me, evil spirit, how can women protect themselves from you? By the name of what angel are you rendered harmless?” Obyzouth said, “By the angel Apharoph. And when women give birth, they should write my name on a piece of paper and hang it up, and I will flee from that place.”
This description of the demoness Obyzouth from The Testament of Solomon (first through third centuries CE) contains the key elements of the Lilith myth. Both are nocturnal demons who attempt to strangle newborn babies. Even their appearance is similar, for they both have long, black hair. But the demoness Obyzouth disappears after The Testament of Solomon, and Lilith takes over her role, in an example of mythic absorption. Now Lilith has two roles, as the incarnation of lust and as a child-destroying witch. As evidence of the link between the two demonesses in later kabbalistic literature, Obyzouth was said to be one of the secret names of Lilith.
Sources:
The Testament of Solomon 13.
270. LILITH THE WITCH
At night Lilith flies over homes until she smells the odor of mothers’ milk. She finds a way to enter the house—any kind of crack in the door or window will do. She can take any form she desires, a black cat, a broom, even a hair in the milk. Some say she comes there to strangle the infant, others that she wants to steal the afterbirth, to feed it to her children. Only if the child is guarded by an amulet against Lilith will the child be safe.
But Lilith’s greatest enemy was the old midwife who was familiar with all her tricks. It is told that Lilith, flying over the house of a woman who had recently given birth, smelled the mother’s milk and transformed herself into a long, black hair that fell into a glass of milk. When the mother was about to drink the milk, she noticed the black hair and fainted. The midwife recognized the presence of Lilith at once and poured the glass of milk, hair and all, into a jug, and closed it tightly. Shaking the jug, the midwife heard the pleas of Lilith from within and extracted a vow from her not only to spare the woman and her child, but also to serve them for three years and protect them from other evil forces. This Lilith did, for once she takes an oath, she is compelled to carry it out.
Note that the portrait of Lilith in the story of the midwife is quite different from that found in the male myths. The male attitude toward Lilith mixes fear with sexual fantasy. From a woman’s perspective, however, Lilith is bad news in every way, as Lilith threatens to steal both her husband’s affection and seed and the very life of her children. (It is important to contrast this traditional view of Lilith as an evil demoness with the contemporary view, espoused by Jewish feminists, that Lilith be viewed as a role model for sexual and personal independence. See footnote 172 in the Introduction.) Thus Lilith holds far more power over men than she does over women. Perhaps this is because men are ambivalent toward Lilith, seeing her as something forbidden and tempting, while fearing her destructive abilities. For women, Lilith is a husband-stealing, child-destroying witch they fear and loathe more than anything else. And unlike the men, they are willing to struggle against her, here defeating her. The story of the midwife who captures Lilith is Kurdish. Professor Dov Noy suggests that this is a prime example of a woman’s tale, containing secrets of how to defeat the enemy, Lilith. See “The Hair in the Milk” in Lilith’s Cave, pp. 110-112.
Sources:
Shishim Sippurei Am; IFA 4563.
Studies:
Lilith—the First Eve: Historical and Psychological Aspects of the Dark Feminine by Siegmund Hurwitz.
“Some Early Amulets from Palestine” by J. A. Montgomery.
271. LILITH AND ELIJAH
Elijah was walking one day when he met Lilith. He said, “Unclean one, where are you going?” Lilith knew that she could not lie to Elijah, so she said, “I am going to the house of a woman who is about to give birth. I will give her a sleeping potion and kill her and take her child and eat it.”
Elijah said, “I curse you in the Name of the Lord. Be silent as a stone!”
Lilith said, “O lord, release me from your curse and I swear by God’s Name to forsake my evil ways. As long as I hear or see my own names I will retreat and not come near that person. I shall have no power to injure him or do evil. I swear to disclose my true names to you.”
Elijah said, “Tell me what your names are.”
Lilith said, “These are my names: Lilith, Abiti, Abizu, Amrusu, Hakash, Ode, Ayil, Matruta, Avgu, Katah, Kali, Batub, and Paritasha.” Let them be written and hung about the house of women who are bearing a child, or around the child after it has been born. And when I see those names, I shall run away at once. Neither the child nor the mother will ever be injured by me.”
And Elijah said, “So be it. Amen.”
Here Lilith is portrayed not only as a witch intent on killing children, but as a cannibal as well, who seeks to kill the mother and devour the child. This is the vilest description of Lilith to be found anywhere. At the same time, Lilith is subject to the power of Elijah, who curses her in God’s Name to be silent as stone. This would be a terrible punishment for Lilith, who uses her verbal wiles to bargain her way out of every difficult situation. Lilith then agrees to stay away from every pregnant woman or newborn child where Lilith’s own names are posted in the house. This creates the kind of amulet against Lilith found in “A Spell to Banish Lilith,” p. 218. Here, however, is a different story of the origin of the amulet. The more famous account found in The Alpha Beta de-Ben Sira tells how God sent three angels to force Lilith to return to Adam, but when she refused, they agreed on the creation of an amulet that would ward off Lilith. See “Adam and Lilith,” p.
216.
Thus there are two important elements that differ from the usual folk traditions about Lilith: one is that she devoured her infant victims, and the other is about her encounter with Elijah having resulted in the creation of an amulet to ward her off.
An unknown Gnostic tale is referred to by Epiphanius in Panarion, in which Elijah was said to have been cast back into the world after his ascent on high. A female demon took hold of him and said, “Where are you going? I have children from you, and you can’t go to heaven and leave your children here.” Elijah said, “How can you have children from me? I was always chaste.” The demon said, “But I do! While you were dreaming, you often had an emission, and I took the seeds from you and begot you children.” The existence of this story indicates that Elijah and Lilith, or a Lilith-like figure, were regarded as traditional adversaries, one deeply pious, the other, the embodiment of evil.
Sources:
Yosef ba-Seder 6.
272. LILITH FLEES FROM THE APPARITION OF EVE
When God created Adam, he attached Eve to Adam’s back. Her beauty was like that of the realms above. Some say she was only an apparition, for she had not been brought into being, while others say that she was Adam’s other half, until God separated them, creating two beings where there had been one.
Once Lilith approached Adam, seeking to seduce him, for she thought that he was all alone. But when she saw Eve’s perfect image attached to Adam’s back, Lilith flew from there to the cherubim who guard the gates of the Garden of Eden. But the cherubim turned her away, and God dispatched her to the depths of Cities of the sea.
There Lilith dwelt until Adam and Eve sinned. Then God freed her from the watery depths and let her roam to and fro in the world. She returned to the cherubim and dwelt there by the fiery ever-turning sword that guards the way to the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:24).
Some say that she still bides her time there until the moon is on the wane and the light diminishes. Then she comes forth from the gates of the Garden and flies through the world seeking revenge against the children of Eve.
But others say that God has exiled her once again to the Cities of the Sea, and that she will remain there until Rome is destroyed. Then God will bring Lilith from the depths and settle her in Rome’s desolate ruins.
This myth is a good example of how the Zohar takes an existing midrash and transforms it into a kabbalistic one. The midrash on which this myth is based (B. Eruv. 14a) describes Adam and Eve as having been created back to back. That image recurs here (Zohar 1:19b), but it seems to suggest that rather than being a flesh and blood creature, Eve is more of an apparition, a perfect image. This interpretation grows out of the verse In the image of God He created him, male and female He created them (Gen. 1:27). Tzelem, the word for “image,” has many mystical meanings. Here it seems to suggest that Eve is more of an archetype than a person. Lilith is intimidated by this vision, either because she realizes that Adam is already with another woman, or because Eve’s supernal beauty (which is, after all, that of the image of God) so greatly transcends her own. Gershom Scholem suggests that tzelem is a kind of astral body (On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead, pp. 251-273).
Then the myth recounts that Lilith flees to the cherubim, who guard the gates of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24). Her reasons for seeking out the cherubim are not clear, but it is possible that she, too, wanted a human body. In any case, the cherubim guarding the gates of Eden turn her away and God imprisons her in the depths of the sea. But Adam’s sin causes God to set her free, and she comes as close as she can to the Garden of Eden—still, it seems, desiring entry there—while using the night to seek harm against human infants, which, it is implied, is her revenge against Eve.
Zohar 3:19a describes Eve as being fastened to Adam’s side, rather than his back, at the time that God breathes the breath of life into him, and this living soul pervades his body. In both of these sources from the Zohar it seems that the female plays a role similar to that defined by Carl Jung as the anima, the feminine side of a man, whose presence must be discovered and integrated in order for a man to achieve wholeness. Eventually, however, God splits Adam and prepares Eve as an independent person (Zohar 3:19a). Here “prepares” can be understood as transforming Eve from her image into a living person, or, more closely following the midrashim about the wedding of Adam and Eve, preparing her as a bride for Adam. Or both, for this same passage from the Zohar also states that the reason Lilith fled was that she saw God bringing Eve to Adam, dressed as a bride (Gen. 2:22).
Kabbalistic cosmology offers an entirely different way of viewing this myth of Lilith and Eve. Here Lilith represents not a demoness, but the whole side of evil in the Sitra Ahra, “the Other Side,” the domain of dark emanations and demonic power. Eve, likewise represents the world of holiness. See “Adam the Hermaphrodite,” p. 138, and “The First Wedding,” p. 143.
Sources:
Zohar 1:19b, 3:19a.
Studies:
“Tselem: The Concept of the Astral Body” in On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead by Gershom Scholem, pp. 251-271.
Lilith—The First Eve: Historical and Psychological Aspects of the Dark Feminine by Siegmund Hurwitz.
“Mermaid and Siren: The Polar Roles of Lilith and Eve” by Howard Schwartz.
273. THE SPIRITS OF THE SIXTH DAY
God created all day long during the first six days of Creation and did not rest until the sun set on the sixth day. But when the Sabbath day was ready to be sanctified, there were still spirits that had been created who were left without a body. Thus their creation was incomplete, and they are blemished. The holy name does not dwell in them. That is why demons have no bodies, but are composed entirely of spirit.
Some of these evil spirits tried to enter the body of Adam after God shaped him into the form of a human being, but before God breathed the breath of life into him.
These spirits continue to exist in the realm of spirits, whirlwinds, and demons known as the Sitre Ahra, the Other Side. They are made corporeal in that realm, the realm of Cain.
It is said that these spirits have three things in common with the angels, and three things in common with men. Like angels, they have wings, they fly from one end of the world to the other, and they know the future, for they hear it spoken from behind the heavenly curtain (Pargod). Like humans, they eat and drink, they propagate, and they die.
Likewise, in three ways demons are like human beings, and in three ways they are like the angels. Like humans they eat and drink, reproduce and multiply, and die. In addition, they are said to have the feet of cocks, they can change their appearance any time they please, and they see, but they cannot be seen.
If you want to discover demons, take sifted ashes and sprinkle them around your bed, and in the morning you will see something like the footprints of a cock. If you want to see them, take the afterbirth of a black she-cat, the firstborn of a firstborn, roast it in fire and grind it to powder, and then put some in your eye and you will see them.
This is a myth about the origin of evil spirits, which are said to have been created during the six days of creation with the intention of pairing them with bodies, but when the sun set on the sixth day of creation, there were many spirits left without bodies. These spirits are linked with the Sitra Ahra, the Other Side. They are regarded as unclean, and dwell in the realm of evil, or wander restlessly around the world. See “Adam and the Spirits,” p. 140.
Sources:
B. Hagigah 16a; Zohar 1:47b-48a, 1:178a-178b, 3:19a.
274. THE VAMPIRE DEMON
The demons did not want to see the Temple built. They could not harm King Solomon, or the chief builder, so Ornasis, a vampire demon, approached the chief builder’s son and sucked blood from his thumb. He did this many times, until the boy was very weak. King Solomon noticed his condition, and asked him what was wrong. When the boy told the king, Solomon gave the boy his royal ring, with the letters of God’s Name, YHVH, engraved on it, and told the boy to throw the ring at the demon th
e next time he approached. That would make him the boy’s prisoner. When that happened, the boy was to bring him to King Solomon.
That is exactly how things came to pass, and before long King Solomon besieged Ornasis with many questions about the other demons, what their names were, and how they could be stopped. In this way, King Solomon extracted the names of all the demons. And with the knowledge he gained, Solomon saw the building of the Temple completed, and held off the demons throughout the years he ruled, for they had no power over him.
This is the earliest Jewish vampire tale, as well as one of the few such tales to be found in Jewish lore. This tale of the demon Ornasis serves as the frame tale to The Testament of Solomon, a pseudepigraphal text believed to date from before the writing down of the Talmud. The conventional vampire/host relationship is presented quite clearly in the role of the demon and the boy who is his victim. King Solomon’s plan to capture the vampire demon is similar to that used to capture Ashmedai king of demons, in B. Gittin 68.
Sefer Hasidim (twelfth century) includes a tale about Astryiah the vampire, who sucks the blood from her victims while they are asleep.
Sources:
The Testament of Solomon 1.
275. AN EVIL DEMONESS
One after the other, King Solomon invoked a host of demons and evil spirits, in order to find out their names and how they might be thwarted. Among them was a demoness whose name was Onoskelis. Her torso was that of a beautiful woman, but her legs were those of a mule.
Solomon said, “Tell me who you are.” She replied, “I am Onoskelis, a spirit that has been made into a body. I was created by the echo of a voice from a black heaven. I make my home in caves in the sides of cliffs and ravines. I travel by the moon. Sometimes I strangle men, sometimes I pervert them from their true nature, for men think of me as a woman, which I am not. Men worship me secretly and openly and this incites me to be an evildoer all the more.”
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