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

Enid Dame (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765760150 | ISBN-13: 978-0765760159 | Publication Date: September 1, 1998

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.

Editorial Reviews

From 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.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

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. (Esther Broner )

Indispensable...provacative essays. (Bridges )

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. (Na'amat Woman )

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. (Jewish Bulletin )

Recommended for women's and Jewish studies collections. (Library Journal )

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. (Dr. Phyllis Chesler )

A must-read for students of feminism, Jewish scripture, women's literature, and anyone restless for a walk on the psyche's wild side. (Woodstock Times )

Fascinating, original, and highly recommended for Judaic studies and women's studies supplemental reading lists. (The Bookwatch )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 440 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765760150
• ISBN-13: 978-0765760159
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,826,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Women and Judaism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fiction not fact, November 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Which Lilith?: Feminist Writers Re-Create the World's First Woman (Hardcover)

I was mislead by the synopsis which implied that this was an academic study of the Lilith myth. It is first and foremost, fictional and artistic interpretations of Lilith. This book is for anyone interested in the retellings of this myth, but it is not for those interested in the academic approach to Lilith, although one may pick up a few interesting bits of informatio along the way.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable and broadly-ranging anthology, December 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Which Lilith?: Feminist Writers Re-Create the World's First Woman (Hardcover)

This anthology is a true Midrash, a collection of poems, stories, pensees, and more scholarly reflections on Lilith. The authors engage with Lilith as she has been portrayed historically, and through their imaginative re-visioning of who she is and what she means. The writing is consistently quite good, and the authors' voices compelling. I particularly enjoyed the work of Leslea Newman and Shoshana T. Daniel. Though somewhat pricey, this is a nice-looking volume with *a lot* of pieces.