Lilith in the Talmud


By Alan Humm
Copied with Permission.

Direct Talmudic References:

b. Erubin 18b

Rabbi Jeremia ben Eleazar said, "During those years (after their expulsion from the Garden), in which Adam, the first man, was separated from Eve, he became the father of ghouls and demons and lilin." Rabbi Meir said, "Adam, the first man, being very pious and finding that he had caused death to come into the world, sat fasting for 130 years, and separated himself from his wife for 130 years, and wore fig vines for 130 years. His fathering of evil spirits, referred to here, came as a result of wet dreams.

b. Erubin 100b

Lilith grows long hair.

b. Nidda 24b

Lilith is a demoness with a human appearance except that she has wings.

b. Shab. 151b

Rabbi Hanina said, "One may not sleep alone in a house, for Lilith takes hold of whoever sleeps alone in a house."

b. Baba Bathra 73a-b

Rabba bar bar Hana said, "I once saw Hormin, a son of Lilith, running on the battlements of Mahoza.... When the demonic government heard of it, they killed him [for showing himself]."

Talmud citations are informed by the translations of I. Epstein. (The Babylonian Talmud. London: Socino Press, 1978) and Raphael Patai, Patai81, pp. 184f.).