The Serpent
From a Mesopotamian spirit to Adam’s first wife to demonic royalty, Lilith has a long and storied past. Today's episode explores the evolution of Lilith from obscure demon to feminist icon. What do you do with a woman who refuses to lie down?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, featuring the voice talents of Gregg Adams, Kiernan Angley, Kate Austin-Groen, Kit Baker, and Lenny Scovel, with original music by Purple Planet.
Music
Purple Planet - Eventide
Purple Planet - Shifting Sands
Purple Planet - Harbinger of Doom
Purple Planet - Deadlock
Purple Planet - Fallen Angels
Purple Planet - Sense of Loss
Purple Planet - Shadowlands
Sources
Primary
Jewish Women’s Archive. “Alphabet of Ben Sira 78: Lilith.” Accessed April 22, 2021.
Kramer, Samuel Noah. Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree: A Reconstructed Sumerian Text. Assyriological Studies of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 10. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Sefaria. “Eruvin 18b:10.” The William Davidson Talmud. Accessed April 22, 2021.
Sefaria. “Eruvin 100b:26.” The William Davidson Talmud. Accessed April 22, 2021.
Sefaria. “Niddah 24b:10.” The William Davidson Talmud. Accessed April 22, 2021.
Sefaria. “Shabbat 151b:10.” The William Davidson Talmud. Accessed April 22, 2021.
Secondary
Baskin, Judith R. Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature. Hanover: Brandeis University Press, 2002.
Carvalho, Diana. “Woman Has Two Faces: Re-Examining Eve and Lilith in Jewish Feminist Thought.” MA Thesis. University of Denver, 2009.
Colonna, M.T. “Lilith, or the Black Moon.” The Society of Analytical Psychology 25.4 (October 2006): 325-350.
Dan, Joseph. “Samael, Lilith, and the Concept of Evil in Early Kabbalah.” AJS Review 5 (1980): 17-40.
Frederick, Sharona. “Disarticulating Lilith: Notions of God’s Evil in Jewish Folklore.” In Eroticism in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Magic, Marriage, and Midwifery, edited by Ian Moulton, 59-81. Turnhout: Brepols, 2016.
Gaines, Janet Howe. “Lilith: Seductress, Heroine Or Murderer?” The Biblical Archeology Review 17.5 (2001): 12-20.
Geller, Markham J. “Tablets and Magic Bowls.” In Officina Magica: Essays on the Practice of Magic in Antiquity, edited by Shaul Shaked, 53-72. Leiden: Brill, 2005.
Hellig, Jocelyn. “Lilith as a Focus of Judaism’s Gender Construction.” Dialogue & Alliance 12.1 (1998): 35-49.
Isbell, Charles D. “The Story of the Aramaic Magical Incantation Bowls.” The Biblical Archeology Review 41.1 (1978): 5-16.
Kinrich, Lauren. “Demon at the Doorstep: Lilith as a Reflection of Anxieties and Desires in Ancient, Rabbinic, and Medieval Jewish Sexuality.” BA Thesis. Pomona College, 2011.
Kosior, Wojciech. “A Tale of Two Sisters: The Image of Eve in Early Rabbinic Literature and Its Influence on the Portrayal of Lilith in the Alphabet of Ben Sira.” Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies & Gender Issues 32 (2018): 112–130.
Lesses, Rebecca. “Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses, Exorcists, and Demonesses in Babylonian Jewish Society of Late Antiquity.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69.2 (2001): 343-75.
Milgrom, Jo. “Some Second Thoughts About Adam’s First Wife.” In Genesis 1-3 in the History of Exegesis: Intrigue in the Garden, edited by Gregory A. Robbins, 225-253. Lewiston: The Edwin Millen Press, 1988.
Mirsky, Mark J. and David Stern. Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
Patai, Raphael. “Lilith.” The Journal of American Folklore 77.306 (1964): 295-314.
Patai, Raphael. The Hebrew Goddess. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.
Schwartz, Howard. Lilith’s Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.
Thompson. R. Campbell. Semitic Magic, its Origins and Development. London: Luzac and Co., 1908.
