THE THE LEGEND LEGEND OF OF LILITH LILITH © ©

The Legend of Lilith: The Origins of Evil and the Fall of Man
Thus, evil is associated with the two outer pillars of the Tree of Life 44 because they are the functional aspects of the cosmos
without the conscious of the Middle Pillar (Moshiach). Left to themselves, Force and Form will go on expanding ad
infintum that would eventually destroy creation. In our universe, there are still remnants of past creations that have little or
no purpose because their Middle Pillars are missing. They attach their chaotic Force and Form to whatever ordered Force
and Form are within their grasp. 45 Like moths to a flame, they too seek perfection and try to break or drain off Force and
Form from this present creation. The motive of evil then is sometimes good, although they methods it employs are unlawful
because of their disorder and chaos.
Evil begins with creation. It is rooted in the first division from Ayn Sof. It began with the separation of the Beriatic World
from Atzilut. 46 Here creation leaves from the presence of the Divine and thus imperfection begins. The further the creation
44 All the Sephirot on the passive pillar are receptive and have the qualities of Form, in the Understanding (Binah) is the formulation
of ideas, Judgment (Gevurah) is exercised in response to something, and Reverberation (Hod) is the echo to an impulse coming from
any one of the other Sephirot. It is the same with the active pillar. Here the impact of revelation is seen in Wisdom (Chochmah), while
the power than must be behind Mercy (Hesed) is enormous. Eternity (Netzah) is the principle of repetition, the incessant input necessary
to make the world go round. The central pillar is concerned with Will and with the Grace which descends from the Crown (Keter)
through Knowledge (Da'at) to Beauty (Tiferet), which is the Sephirah which reflects the top to the bottom of the Tree. Foundation (Yesod)
and Kingdom (Malkuth) are respectively the manifestation of an image plan and the actualization of it in the Divine material. A
Kabbalistic Universe, Z'ev Shimon Halevi, Samuel Weiser, Inc., York Beach, Maine, 1977, p. 16.
45 The concept of pre-Adamic civilizations was well accepted by early sages and even many Christian scholars. Also in support of the
notion of lost civilizations, we read in Psalms 105:8the words: "He remembered His covenant forever - the Word he commanded for a
thousand generations ..."The Talmud reveals that this verse indicates that the Torah, was given to Mosheh and all the Hebrews at
Mount Sinai after the elapse of 1,000 human generations. Since Mosheh was of the 26th generation following the first progenitor of
the human race, this indicates some 974 generations before Adam. There is a notable passage that may provide further evidence for
pre-Adam races. Genesis 36: 31-39 gives the names of the kings who "...reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the
Children of Yisrael". With Adam, himself, being considered the first 'King of Yisrael', the hidden Kabbalistic explanation of this listing
relates to the seven one thousand year rounds of the previous world, with the eighth king mentioned representing our current world
-- he is the only one of the eight not to have died, and whose wife's name is also given. In Kabbalistic literature, the world of the Edomite
kings who pre-dated Adam, is known as Olam HaTohu, literally, "world of emptiness", which is referred to at the beginning in
Genesis 1:2: "...when the earth was empty...". (The word 'chaos' has also been taken as being a direct translation of Tohu.) This 'empty
world' notion coincides very neatly with the Shemitah scenario which postulates a thousand year period of desolation at the close of
each Sabbatical cycle. Referring to an ancient Kabbalistic work, Sefer haTemunah, the work of the first century Rabbi Nehunya Ben
haKanah, Rabbi Yitzchak of Akko works out a chronology using as his base calculation figure the 'divine year' taken from Psalms
90:4 (a 'divine day' equals 1000 earth years; a 'divine year' is thus 365,250 earth years) . The Talmud states that the world will exist for
seven 7,000 year 'Sabbatical' or Shemita cycles, each one different than its predecessor. Moreover, it will become desolated during
every seven-thousandth year. Rabbi Yitzchak concludes that, as there are seven Sabbatical cycles in a Jubilee (Yovel), the world will
exist for 49,000 years. Human civilizations will thus also rise and fall seven times during this period. There is some dispute as to
which cycle we are now in - some Kabbalistic sources maintain that it is the second cycle, while others believe we are already in the
seventh and final cycle. Rabbi Yitzchak's calculations made over 700 years ago are based on the notion that we are already in the seventh
cycle, and that Adam would thus have been born when the earth was 42,000 years old. However, he writes further that, according
to Sefer haTemunah, the first 42,000 years - before the creation of our present human race - should be taken as divine years, i.e.
365,250 earth years. The universe can then be calculated to be 42,000 x 365,250 years old, which equals 15,340,500,000 years, a figure
uncannily close to the 15 billion years postulated by today's scientists as the elapsed time since the Big Bang occurred! Moreover,
only before Adam was created do we 'count' in 'divine years; whereas since Adam we count regular 'human' years.
46 The Four Worlds are not places such as planets, but rather correspond to four "stages of removal" from Ayn Sof. These stages are
another aspect of the "creation process”. As the light of Ayn Sof move progressively further away from its source (from Azilut
through Asiyah), it becomes "more physical" and more laws are necessary. The four worlds are:
1. Azilut (Emanation) - the eternal unchanging Divine world
2. Beriah (Creation) - considered "Heaven" proper, it is the first separation from the Divine, and "location" of the Throne of
Elohim and archangels
3. Yezirah (Formation) - the abode of the "lower angels," men's souls and the Garden of Eden
4. Asiyah (Action) - the material universe in which we live
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