JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

light on the role of the rib in the biblical story. When Enki
had a pain in his rib, Ninh ŭrsag caused the goddess Nin-ti,
“Lady of the Rib,” to be born from him. The Sumerian logogram
ti means both “rib” and “life,” and it may be that the
Mesopotamian “Rib Lady” lies behind the rib/life motif in
the biblical story.
Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:1–2), and after
Abel was murdered, she gave birth to Seth as a replacement
(Gen. 4:25). The etiology of women’s sexual subjugation to
their husbands (Gen 4:16) is extended in the New Testament.
According to I Tim. 2:14, the story of Eve’s creation after Adam
and the fact that she, not he, was deceived justify female subjection
to men and their exclusion from speaking roles in
the church. Although nothing further is related of Eve in the
Bible, her figure continues to generate an enormous amount
of feminist and theological literature.
[Marvin H. Pope / S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]
In the Aggadah
Eve was created from the 13th rib on Adam’s right side (Targ.
Jon., Gen. 2:21) after Adam’s first wife, *Lilith, left him. God
chose not to create her from Adam’s head, lest she be swellheaded;
nor from his eye, lest she be a flirt; nor from his ear,
lest she be an eavesdropper; nor from his mouth, lest she be
a gossip; nor from his heart, lest she be prone to jealousy; nor
from his hand, lest she be thievish; nor from his foot, lest she
be a gadabout (Gen. R. 18:2). As soon as Adam beheld Eve,
who was exceedingly beautiful (BB 58a), he embraced and
kissed her. He called her Ishah (השיא), and himself Ish (שיא),
the addition of the letter yod to his name and the letter he to
hers indicating that as long as they walked in a godly path,
the Divine Name (Yod-He) would protect them against all
harm. However, if they went astray, His Name would be withdrawn,
and there would remain only esh (שא, “fire”), which
would consume them. Ten resplendent bridal canopies, studded
with gems, pearls, and gold, were erected for Eve by God,
who Himself gave her away in marriage and pronounced the
blessings, while angels danced and beat timbrels and stood
guard over the bridal chamber (PdRE 12).
*Samael (Satan), prompted by jealousy, chose the serpent
to mislead Eve (PdRE 13). According to another tradition, the
serpent itself wished to lead Eve to sin since it desired her (Sot.
9b; Shab. 196a). The serpent approached Eve rather than Adam
since it knew that women are more readily persuaded (ARN1
1:4). Initially, Eve hesitated to eat the fruit itself, and only did
so after touching the tree and discovering that no harm befell
her (Yal., Gen. 26). Immediately she saw the Angel of Death
before her. Expecting her end to be imminent, she resolved
to make Adam also eat of the forbidden fruit lest he take another
wife after her death (PdRE 13). Nine curses and death
were pronounced on Eve in consequence of her disobedience
(PdRE 1). Eve conceived and bore Cain and Abel, according
to one view, on the day of her expulsion from Eden (Gen. R.
22:2). Afterward Adam and Eve lived apart for 130 years (Er.
18b). After they were reunited, she bore Seth (Gen. R. 23:5).
evenari, michael
When Eve died, she was interred beside Adam in the cave of
Machpelah in Hebron (PdRE 20).
In Christian Tradition
The New Testament mentions the deception of Eve as a warning
to Christians (II Cor. 11:3), and stresses Adam’s precedence
in support of the view that women ought to be submissive and
find their fulfillment in childbearing (I Tim. 2:11–15; cf. I Cor.
11:8–12). While Eve does not figure as a type in the New Testament,
Paul’s doctrine of the “New Adam” (i.e., Jesus) and his
implicit comparison of Eve and the Church (Eph. 5:22–23) anticipate
the development of later Christian typology according
to which the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib represents the
emergence of the Church from the open wound in the side of
Jesus upon the cross.
Justin, Irenaeus, and other Church Fathers compared
and contrasted Eve, the first woman, and Mary, the mother
of Jesus. Mary is seen as “new Eve,” a title which Paul assigned
to the Church collectively. The disobedience and the infidelity
of the first (who, like Mary, was married and a virgin at the
time of sin) is contrasted with and followed by the obedience
and faith of the second. Eve is thus restored to wholeness in
the Virgin Mary as Adam is in Jesus. Protestants, in their opposition
to the Catholic veneration of Mary, did not develop
this typology (see *Adam in Christianity).
In Islam
Eve (Ar. Ḥawwāʾ), the name of Adam’s wife, is not mentioned
expressly in the Koran; she is called the “spouse” in the tale of
their sinning against Allah, having been influenced by Iblīs,
the Satan (7:18, 20:115). Nevertheless, this name is found in
three poems of the old-Arabic poetry, one of *Umayya ibn
Abī-al-Ṣalt and two of ʿAdī ibn Zayd, a Christian living in the
times of Muhammad. (The third poem is suspected to be a
falsification.)
For Eve in the arts, see *Adam, In the Arts.
[Haïm Z’ew Hirschberg]
Bibliography: H. Gressmann, in: ARW, 10 (1907), 358ff.; S.
Reinach, in: RHR, 78 (1918), 185ff.; A.H. Krappe, in: Gaster Anniversary
Volume (1936), 312–22; T.C. Vriezen, Onderzoek naar de Paradijsvoorstelling
(1937); S.N. Kramer, Enki and Ninhursag (1945); idem,
History Begins at Sumer (1958), 195–6; J. Heller, in: Archiv Orientalni,
26 (1958), 636–58 (Ger.). IN THE AGGADAH: Ginzberg, Legends,
index. IN CHRISTIAN TRADITION: New Catholic Encyclopedia, 5
(1967), 655–7; Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique, 5 (1913), 1640–55;
Dubarle, in: Recherches de Science Religieuse, 39 (1951), 49–64. IN IS-
LAM: J. Horovitz, Koranische Untersuchungen (1926), 108–9; Hirschberg,
in: Rocznik Orientalistyczny, 9 (1933), 22–36; J. Eisenberg and
G. Vajda, in: EIS2 (1966). Add. Bibliography: KAI II, 102–3; E.
Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (1988); H. Wallace, in: ABD II,
666–67; N. Wyatt, in: DDD, 316–17.
EVENARI, MICHAEL (originally Walter Schwarz; 1904–
1989), Israel botanist. Born in France, Evenari went to Ereẓ
Israel in 1933, having carried out plant research in universities
in France, Czechoslovakia, and Germany. He joined the
Hebrew University in 1934. During World War II he served in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 573