THE THE LEGEND LEGEND OF OF LILITH LILITH © ©

The Legend of Lilith: The Origins of Evil and the Fall of Man
ently inexact) to Mishnah, Ahaloth III, 2.] Now, when the unclean spirit beholds this hair that is within the supremely
holy, and thus finds that he has a portion therein, he will abstain from assailing the wearer and will be
powerless to inflict evil on him, whether on high or below. Whereas if nothing is given him within what is holy he
brings accusations, saying, that-and-that man who at the moment makes himself holy has done such-and-such a
deed on such-and-such a day, and these-and-these are the sins he committed; so that the man will thus be brought
to judgment and be punished. The Israelites, who were aware of this secret, used to adopt a similar device when
they began to sanctify themselves on the Day of Atonement; they at once made provision for assigning the unclean
spirit his portion, so that he should not accuse them nor bring to notice the sins of Israel. For when he presents
himself to bring accusations against Israel, ever so many bands and hosts stand there ready to take up his word.
Happy is the portion of him who is able to be on his guard so that his sins should not be brought to notice on
high, and so that he should not be regarded with disfavor.’
• “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day” (Ex. xxv, 3). ‘It is’, he said, ‘because
fire symbolizes judgment. As to the fire of the sacrifices on the Sabbath day, it rises to hold in check judgment;
for, as we have learnt, “there is a fire which consumes a fire”: the fire of the altar consumes the fire of judgment.
Therefore the Holy Ancient One reveals Himself on this day (Sabbath) more than on any other day, and when He
reveals Himself judgment is not in evidence at all, and all the upper and lower celestial beings are in perfect joy,
and judgment has no dominion. ‘It is written: “For six days YHWH made heaven and earth” (EX.XXXI, 17); it
does not say “in six days”, which indicates that the days themselves were a special creation. They are holy, supernal
days, days in which the Holy Name is contained. Blessed are the Israelites more than all the heathen nations:
of them it is written, “And ye, who cleave to YHWH your Elohim, ye are all alive today”.’ Zohar ,Shemot -
Section 2:89b
The entire sacrificial system, in part, is a method of appeasing the “Other Side”. The animal sacrifices, representing
man’s animal nature and thanatic urges 64 , provided the necessary appeasement to evil. An example of this is also found
the account of the Akedah, the binding of Yitzchak by Avraham. This act, which involves the willingness of Avraham to
sacrifice his son in the Name of YHWH, serves as a paradigm of true faith, and illustrates the Zoharic axiom that evil
(here in the guise of a filicidal impulse 65 ) must be included in the worship of YHWH.
• Soncino Zohar, Shemot, Section 2, Page 130a-is called white, while sometimes white is called black; we read,
for instance, of Moses’ wife that she was black (Num. XII, 1), and Israel are compared to the Aethiopians (Amos
IX, 7). The evening prayer is not obligatory, and there is no fixed time for it, because the evening is influenced by
the “other side”, which is dark and rules by night. The limbs and fatty portions of sacrifices used to be burnt on
the altar in the evening, and from that moment numbers of groups of demons which issue and have sway by night
receive their nourishment. It may be said, have we not been taught that the messengers of the “other side”, of the
spirit of impurity, had by rights no power in the Holy Land, and so if by this means the Israelites were to rouse
them, would they not be doing something forbidden? The answer would be that the smoke of those parts was wont
to ascend, not as the smoke of other sacrifices, which did ascend in a straight line heavenward: for these fumes
rose and dispersed into a cavern in the North, where dwell all the hosts of evil spirits, and when the smoke arose,
as we have said, as it floated upward in a crooked line towards that place, all those malevolent beings would feed
on it, and so would remain where they were, dispersing not throughout the earth. One particular evil spirit was
appointed over the others in that northerly cavern: his name was Synegoria, [Tr. note: ‘Lit. “advocacy, justification,
Perhaps a corruption for Sangorin (frorr. sanguis), “bloodthirsty”.] and when the smoke began to ascend
crookedly and to draw near, he and sixty thousand myriads of other spirits would rise up to meet it in order to
imbibe nourishment there from. They would stand within their cavern and then pass through the door called “keri”
(lit. defilement). It is to this door that there is an allusion in the words, “If ye walk contumaciously (in keri)
unto me, then will I also walk contumaciously unto you” (Lev. XXVII, 24, 25); that is, the wrath and anger which
come out from that door called Keri will be wreaked on those who walk contumaciously. These are the spirits who
roam about by night. When the souls of the righteous emerge from the earth into the upper spaces in order to as-
64 From the Greek word thantos-which means death or destruction.
65 The act of a parent killing their own child.
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