Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Eve was not Adam's first wife. That honor belongs to Lilith, who was created as Adam's equal. When he tried to dominate her, she uttered God's secret name and flew away. Lilith is mentioned in the Talmud, elaborated on in the midrash and in the kabbalah, whispered about in stories, and passed down from mother to daughter. In this anthology, a vivid, provocative, and enlightening sampling of Jewish women's written responses to the Lilith myth are offered. The editors have provided the space for contemporary women to link themselves to a tradition and participate in a sacred activity, thereby infusing energy into Lilith and creating a new tradition.
Synopsis
Eve was not Adam's first wife. That honor belongs to Lilith, who was created as Adam's equal. When he tried to dominate her, she uttered God's secret name and flew away. Lilith is mentioned in the Talmud, elaborated on in the midrash and in the kabbalah, whispered about in stories, and passed down from mother to daughter. In this anthology, a vivid, provocative, and enlightening sampling of Jewish women's written responses to the Lilith myth are offered. The editors have provided the space for contemporary women to link themselves to a tradition and participate in a sacred activity, thereby infusing energy into Lilith and creating a new tradition.
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.
Editorials
Woodstock Times
A must-read for students of feminism, Jewish scripture, women's literature, and anyone restless for a walk on the psyche's wild side.The Bookwatch
Fascinating, original, and highly recommended for Judaic studies and women's studies supplemental reading lists.Esther Broner
The editors of this anthology, Dame, Rivlin, and Wenkart, have selected works that are wide-ranging, visionary as well as revisionist, both fierce and lyrical at the same time. Lilith circles above the pages of the volume, flies to the sea, to the desert, and invites us on this wild ride.Dr. Phyllis Chesler
This is an amazing and wondrous work, quite equal to the task of resurrecting Lilith—one of the great female foremother archetypes, a universal vibration, and role model, if you will, one that has been buried, denied, scorned, misread, feared, by women as well as men, to our own detriment. The pieces are original, complex, very creative, poetic, filled with yearning and bravery. An deeply informative. This is a book I didn't know I needed, but now that it's here, I know she has come at the right time and in the right form. Bravo to editors Dame, Rivlin, and Wenkart. No Jewish or Women's Studies program should be without it. A must-read for theologians, ritualists, mental health professionals, Middle East experts, and, of course, for people of good will.Bridges
Indispensable...provacative essays.Na'amat Woman
This work proves that conjoining Lileth with feminist consciousness has opened a pwoerful chapter in the quest for re-imaging contemporary Jewish women's lives.J. The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California
Judaism has a long tradition of reinterpreting its central texts and newer traditions of women seeking their own path. Which Lileth? adds a modern and uniquely female voice to the ancient texts and legends.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
The editors...have selected works that are wide-ranging, visionary as well as revisionist, both fierce and lyric at the same time...Lilith circles around the pages of this volume, flies to the sea, to the desert and invites us on this wild ride.— Tikkun