Bereshit Genesis 1:1-6:8 In the first chapter of the Torah, God creates humanity, "male and female," at once as the crowning glory to creation. Then in the next chapter, Adam is alone. God thinks he should not be alone and makes all the animals, but it's still not quite right. So God makes Eve from his rib to be an "ezer k'negdo," a "fitting helper" for him, and he will "rule over her." Modern Biblical scholars tell us that these stories represent two authors with different agendas. The seven days of creation is a priestly tale, characteristically concerned with separations and order. The Adam and Eve story comes from the "J" source, probably a Judean author during the Davidic dynasty, and expresses more interest in human and family relations, not the overall cosmic scheme. The explanations from midrash and folklore are quite different. There we learn that the two stories refer to two different women. The first one was Lillith, created on an equal basis with Adam. The second was Eve, a more subservient and cooperative type. In the Alphabet of Ben Sira, a midrash from the Geonic period (before 1000 CE), we read, "After the Holy One created the first human being, Adam, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman, also from the earth, and called her Lillith. They quarreled immediately. She said, 'I will not lie below you.' He said, 'I will not lie below you, but above you. For you are fit to be below and I above you. ' She responded, 'We are both equal because we both came from the earth.' Neither listened to the other. When Lillith realized what was happening, she pronounced the Ineffable Name of God and flew off into the air. Adam rose in prayer before the Creator, saying, 'The woman you gave me has fled from me.' Immediately the Holy One sent three angels after her. The Holy One said to Adam, 'If she wants to return, all the better. If not, she will have to accept that one hundred of her children will die every day.' The angels went after her, finally locating her in the sea, in the powerful waters in which the Eyptians were destined to perish. They told her what God had said, and she did not want to return." Unwilling to be dominated, Lillith flew off in a rage. In folklore, she becames a demonic figure, parallel to the Babylonian demon "Lilu." She was a danger to women in childbirth, to newborns- attacking and strangling them - and a danger to men; the cause of nocturnal emissions, believed to spawn demons. Amulets with the names of three angels were written to protect against her powers. Later, she was said to be the mother of all demons, the consort of Samael. She is connected with the legend of Solomon, with the mother who wanted to slice the baby in two. She is also identified with the Queen of Sheba, a temptress dealing in riddles. Aviva Cantor, who helped start the Jewish feminist periodical "Lillith," interprets all this as evidence of a male dominated culture in which women were provided with clear models of proper and improper behavior. Proper meant being modest, loyal, subservient to husband, and a giving mother. Improper was the opposite extreme: promiscuous, child-hating, rebellious, and dangerous. But there are other qualities of Lillith that could be emphasized instead. She insisted on equality. Her commitment to freedom is emphasized in her presence in the waters of the Red Sea. She has a deep spiritual capacity to be close to God. Phyllis Trible, the Christian feminist Biblical scholar, points out that there is no hint of subservience in Eve being created as an" ezer k'negdo," a "fitting helper". The only other being described as an" ezer" to man is God. Thus, it could mean that man is to look to his mate for a sense of connection to the divine, or to rely on in partnership as God and people rely on one another. The legends of Lillith provide evidence that we have been struggling with the issue of women's equality for a long, long time now. Once it was seen as dangerous, even demonic. Now, it is partially accepted as social progress, although we have many fundamentalist voices from the Taliban to the Promise Keepers who continue to preach that a woman's place is subservient to man's. Considering how long our traditional views were voiced and transmitted by men exclusively, it is remarkable that there is as much room as there is for progressive interpretations. Rabbi Alexis Roberts 2003