So Yesterday was Memorial Day, and what better way to celebrate than watching 10 hours of West Wing? Ok, so maybe Politics is my thing and no one else's. That's ok. I can still argue that this show has some of the best writing I have seen in TV for a long time. Absolutely beautiful. OK and so I have a connection to one of the writers, it doesn't make me biased!
So I spent the other half of my day doing research. Way, way too much research, but I found some interesting stuff. Like the story of Lilith, which depending on who your source is, Lilith can be seen as the spawn of Satan, or the first feminist.
Anyway I want to share this version of the story with you, because I think it is just nifty...
This is taken from the text of "The Alphabet of Ben
Sira", the text is dated somewhere between the 8th & 10th cent. CE, and its place within Judaism has been debated.
Soon afterward the young son of the king took ill,
Said Nebuchadnezzar, "Heal my son. If you don't, I
will kill you." Ben Sira immediately sat down and
wrote an amulet with the Holy Name, and he inscribed
on it the angels in charge of medicine by their names,
forms and images, and by their wings, hands, and feet.
Nebuchadnezzar looked at the amulet. "Who are these?"
"The angles who are in charge of medicine: Snvi,
Snsvi, and Smnglof (more common names Senoy, Sansenoy,
and Semangelof). After God created Adam, who was
alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone'
(Gen. 2:18). He then created a woman for Adam, from
the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called
her Lilith. Adam and Lilith began to fight. She said,
'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie
beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to
be in the bottom position, while I am to be in the
superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each
other inasmuch as we were both created from the
earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When
Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and
flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before
his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said,
'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the
Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angles to
bring her back.
"Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come
back, fine. If not she must permit one hundred of her
children to die every day.' The angels left God and
pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the
sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were
destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she
did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall
drown you in the sea.'
"'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause
sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have
dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and
if female, for twenty days.'
"When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted
she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the
living and eternal God: 'Whenever I see you or your
names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power
over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred
of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day
one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we
write the angels' names on the amulets of young
children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers
her oath, and the child recovers."
- The Alphabet of Ben Sira
Anyway, maybe you found that completely unamusing. If so, then there is a good chance you won't like my novel. Or at least this one, which I am hoping will become a series. Anyway, I did my 1000 words this morning at five AM. Now I am going to write some more.
