Senoy, Sansenoy and Smangeluf (sometimes written Semangelof, or Snvi, Snsnvi and Smnglof) are three guarding angels in the Jewish mythology. The charm in fact consists of two different amulets joined together, one on top and one below. Jewish magical inscriptions on bowls and amulets from the 6th century AD onward identify Lilith as a female demon and provide the first visual depictions of her. [b] In Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, a huluppu tree grows in Inanna's garden in Uruk, whose wood she plans to use to build a new throne. And this Blind Dragon brings about the union between Samael and Lilith. Isa 34:14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. [53][54], The centre of the inside of the bowl depicts Lilith, or the male form, Lilit. I thought, 'If, despite this lie, he strips Leland further notes that Herodias is a name that comes from west Asia, where it denoted an early form of Lilith. During this time "Pizna", either an alternate name for Lilith or a daughter of hers, desires his beauty and seduces him against his will. But they would not listen to one another. In memory of Adam and Eve, excluding Lilith, a protective amulet against demons and harmful forces, from the exhibition book Back to the Shtetl An-Sky and the Jewish Ethnographic Expedition, The Israel Museum, 1994, How was this sense of equality manifested? The results were documented in detail by the emperors court historian. Browning focused on Lilith's emotional attributes, rather than that of her ancient demon predecessors.[91]. Whether this particular tradition is older is not known. In the writings of the sages of the holy city of Safed (Zfat), in the northern Land of Israel, we find evidence that these rabbis sought to fight off the plague with the help of special amulets, among other things. He hath slain them' (Num. So tempting! Others base their reverence for her on her history as a succubus and praise her as a sex goddess. Moses pleads before God, that God should not be like Lilith who kills her own children. Deciphering Jewish Manuscripts . Since the end of the Talmudic period, Samael has often been portrayed as the source of all evil; his agents charged with defeating the cause of good and righteousness. Commentators and interpreters often envision the figure of Lilith as a dangerous demon of the night, who is sexually wanton, and who steals babies in the darkness. gone , were inscribed. While God created Adam, who was alone, He said, "It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18). Adam's wife, his first. DouayRheims Bible (1582/1610) also preserves the Latin rendering lamia: Isa 34:14 And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for herself. God sent three angelsSenoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelofto find Lilith and bring her back. 47). Alphabet of Ben Sirah, Question #5 (23ab). (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Bava Bathra 73a-b). Adam is said to be perfect until he recognises either his sin or Cain's fratricide that is the cause of bringing death into the world. At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to bring her back. The first woman also becomes the object of accusations ascribed to Rabbi Joshua of Siknin, according to whom Eve, despite the divine efforts, turned out to be "swelled-headed, coquette, eavesdropper, gossip, prone to jealousy, light-fingered and gadabout" (Genesis Rabbah 18:2). The three failed in their mission; Lilith claimed that the great demon has already come upon her, referring to Samael, and could therefore no longer return to Adam. "A husk (klippa) was created around the brain" and this husk spread and brought out another husk, which was Lilith. Senoy, Sansenoy, Semangelof. . The names Senoy and Sansenoy are mentioned several times in first century Hebrew texts and they can also be found on an incantation bowl discovered at Nippur in modern-day Iraq. Till heart and body and life are in its hold. These talismans invoke the names of the angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, or sometimes the prophet Elijah, in order to protect young children from the grasp of Lilith. XIV, 16)! The eyes are very large, as well as the hands (if depicted). And find again the paths of life. The common wisdom in Jerusalem of the period spoke of a new wave of pestilence hitting the city every six or seven years. Second, this new woman is still met with harsh rabbinic allegations. Their names are Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof. The Geneva Bible of William Whittingham (1587) from the Hebrew: Isa 34:14 and the screech owl shall rest there, and shall finde for her selfe a quiet dwelling. [40][41], et occurrent daemonia onocentauris et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum ibi cubavit lamia et invenit sibi requiem. While researchers almost universally agree that a connection exists, recent scholarship has disputed the relevance of two sources previously used to connect the Jewish lilith to an Akkadian liltu the Gilgamesh appendix and the Arslan Tash amulets[14] (see below for discussion of these two problematic sources). [24] According to a new source from late antiquity, Lilith appears in a Mandaean magic story where she is considered to represent the branches of a tree with other demonic figures that form other parts of the tree, though this may also include multiple "Liliths". God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith back. The Rabbis, noting Adam's exclamation, "this time (zot hapaam) [this is] bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23), took it as an intimation that there must already have been a "first time". A few lines in Yiddish are followed by the dialogue between the prophet Elijah and Lilith when he met her with her host of demons to kill the mother and take her new-born child ('to drink her blood, suck her bones and eat her flesh'). In Jewish mythology, Lilith is believed to be Adams first wife, who was banished before she was able to bear his children. [98][99], Raymond Buckland holds that Lilith is a dark moon goddess on par with the Hindu Kali. The figure is often depicted with arms and legs chained, indicating the control of the family over the demon(ess). However, this view is challenged by some modern research such as by Judit M. Blair (2009) who considers that the context indicates unclean animals. This idea was further attested by Doreen Valiente, who cited her as a presiding goddess of the Craft: "the personification of erotic dreams, the suppressed desire for delights". [50] However, to be exact the said passages do not employ the Hebrew word lilith itself and instead speak of "the first Eve" (Heb. Schrader's and Levy's view is therefore partly dependent on a later dating of Deutero-Isaiah to the 6th century BC, and the presence of Jews in Babylon which would coincide with the possible references to the Lltu in Babylonian demonology. 'I have been deserted by my helpmeet' God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith . [7] In the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, found in cuneiform texts of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia Lilith signifies a spirit or demon.[1][8][9]. [19][pageneeded], Samuel Noah Kramer (1932, published 1938)[20] translated ki-sikil-lil-la-ke as "Lilith" in Tablet XII of the Epic of Gilgamesh dated c.600 BC. Double amulets were frequently purchased: two Numbers Rabbah, in: Judaic Classics Library, Davka Corporation, 1999. A similar set of charges appears in Genesis Rabbah 17:8, according to which Eve's creation from Adam's rib rather than from the earth makes her inferior to Adam and never satisfied with anything. She tells Elijah that she will lose her power if someone uses her secret names, which she reveals at the end: lilith, abitu, abizu, hakash, avers hikpodu, ayalu, matrota [78], In other amulets, probably informed by The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, she is Adam's first wife. [a] The legend of Lilith developed extensively during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadah, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. [2] She is thought to be mentioned in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Isaiah,[3] and in Late Antiquity in Mandaean mythology and Jewish mythology sources from 500 CE onward. The incantation bowls which have been analysed, are inscribed in the following languages, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Syriac, Mandaic, Middle Persian, and Arabic. It is of Middle Eastern origin, made in the early or mid-20th century. An amulet attributed to Isaac Luria, "The Holy ARI", 1855, 2020 , Prayers, Amulets and Spells to Ward off Plague. The quest for a proven, functioning magical amulet, one whose supernatural powers can be trusted with certainty, has led buyers to prefer amulets ordained with fixed and familiar mystic formulas. A way of resolving the apparent discrepancy between these two accounts was to assume that there must have been some other first woman, apart from the one later identified with Eve. That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive, Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. Lilith? They found her beside the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons, to whom she bore 'lilim' at the rate of more than one hundred a day. Charles Fossey (1902) has this literally translating to "female night being/demon", although cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia exist where Llt and Lltu refers to disease-bearing wind spirits. In the Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q510-511, the term first occurs in a list of monsters. It made its way to the Land of Israel from Egypt around 541-542 AD. It is a re-telling of the Fall of Man as a love triangle between Lilith, Adam and Eve with Eve's eating the forbidden fruit being in this version the result of misguided manipulations by the jealous Lilith, who had hoped to get her rival discredited and destroyed by God and thus regain Adam's love. [75] Gershom Scholem proposes that the author of the Zohar, Rabbi Moses de Leon, was aware of both the folk tradition of Lilith and another conflicting version, possibly older. (14) Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the Lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest. Another version[69] that was also current among Kabbalistic circles in the Middle Ages establishes Lilith as the first of Samael's four wives: Lilith, Naamah, Eisheth, and Agrat bat Mahlat. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which developed around 1848,[89] were greatly influenced by Goethe's work on the theme of Lilith. Despite the threat from the three angels that if she didn't return to Adam one hundred of her sons would die every day, she refused, claiming that she was created expressly to harm newborn infants. God sent three angels after Lilith named Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof, who demanded that she return. 18:3). Lo! (In English: Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof). [71], The marriage of Samael and Lilith is known as the "Angel Satan" or the "Other God", but it was not allowed to last. The angels made a threat Of drowning her in the sea She . The condition was that Lilith promised that she would not touch any child that had an amulet inscribed with the angels' names. https://blog.nli.org.il/en/djm_sen-san-sem/, The figures of Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof appear here from right to left, 2020 . Adams first wife is described as having been created from dust, just as he was, and therefore, argues scholar Joseph Dan, she saw herself as his equal in every aspect. Source: Angels and Demons edited by Filip Vukosavovic. Take a good look. The idea in the text that Adam had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from an interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creation accounts; while Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from Adam's rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman had been made: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." And round his heart one strangling golden hair. And her enchanted hair was the first gold. In a desperate attempt to take revenge on Adam and all his offspring, Lilith devotes her efforts to harassing newborn children and their mothers. Nebuchadnezzar sets forth various ordeals for Ben Sira, who responds with 22 stories. These talismans invoke the names of the angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, or sometimes the prophet Elijah, in order to protect young children from the grasp of Lilith. [65] Her creation is described in many alternative versions. Browning depicts Lilith and Eve as being friendly and complicitous with each other, as they sit together on either side of Adam. The three angels were made popular by the Alphabet of ben Sirah, while the illustrations of their images in various amulets also contributed to their fame. Whence it comes that the Jews are accustomed to write in the four corners of the chamber of a woman just delivered, "Adam, Eve, be gone from hence lilith." For Evil Lilith, when she saw the greatness of his corruption, became strong in her husks, and came to Adam against his will, and became hot from him and bore him many demons and spirits and Lilin. to ward of Lilith. Although in the medieval Hebrew literature and folklore, especially that reflected on the protective amulets of various kinds, Chavvah ha-Rishonah was identified with Lilith, one should remain careful in transposing this equation to the Late Antiquity.[49]. Spelled as "Snvi, Snsvi, and Smnglof". "Return to Adam without delay," the angels said, "or we will drown you!" Lilith asked: "How can I return to Adam and . In later periods paint-ed amulets were prepared, and these in time were replaced by prints. There are five references to Lilith in the Babylonian Talmud in Gemara on three separate Tractates of the Mishnah: The above statement by Hanina may be related to the belief that nocturnal emissions engendered the birth of demons: The Midrash Rabbah collection contains two references to Lilith. [84] Lamia had a vicious sexual appetite that matched her cannibalistic appetite for children. And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare? Because Adam tried to compel her obedience by force, Lilith, in a rage, uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him. [86], The occult writer Ahmad al-Buni (d. 1225), in his Sun of the Great Knowledge (Arabic: ), mentions a demon called "the mother of children" ( ), a term also used "in one place". Tapping the child on the nose, it was believed, made her go away. The last manuscript which we will present also hails from 19th century Italy. 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. The Victorian poet Robert Browning re-envisioned Lilith in his poem "Adam, Lilith, and Eve". If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.". Lilith leaves Adam in Eden, as she is not a suitable helpmate for him. [80] Richardson did not endorse the theory and modern lexicographers consider it a false etymology. Lilith (/ll/ LIH-lith; Hebrew: , romanized:Ll) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam[1] and supposedly the primordial she-demon. And all who possess her will descend to the Pit. [97] According to one view, Lilith was originally a Sumerian, Babylonian, or Hebrew mother goddess of childbirth, children, women, and sexuality. This is the earliest Jewish amulet to appear in print. Who Are You, Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof? When Lilith winds it tight around young men Vladimir Nabokov "Collected Poems" edited and introduced by Thomas Karshan, Penguin Books, c2012. The figures of Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof appear here from right to left The quest for a proven, functioning magical amulet, one whose supernatural powers can be trusted with certainty, has led buyers to prefer amulets ordained with fixed and familiar mystic formulas. An amulet from the Bill Gross Collection, the National Librarys Time Travel Project. In the Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, the terms lili and lltu mean spirits. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. On this bowl we find a text written by the author Duchtish Bat Bahrui, describing a character named Smamit, the mother of twelve sons who were killed by a brutal demon named Sideros. Two organisations that use initiations and magic associated with Lilith are the Ordo Antichristianus Illuminati and the Order of Phosphorus. Although the image of Lilith of the Alphabet of Ben Sira is unprecedented, some elements in her portrayal can be traced back to the talmudic and midrashic traditions that arose around Eve. All who go to her cannot return An amulet with the names of the angels, and Adam and Eve, excluding Lilith. This is the gap into which the later tradition of Lilith could fit. Chavvah ha-Rishonah, analogically to the phrase Adam ha-Rishon, i.e. [44] The text is thus, to a community "deeply involved in the realm of demonology",[45] an exorcism hymn. -------------------------------- Hormin who is mentioned here as the son of Lilith is most probably a result of a scribal error of the word "Hormiz" attested in some of the Talmudic manuscripts. To take revenge on Adam, she pursues human children. They found her at the Red Sea, where she was giving birth daily to numerous demons. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names on the amulets of young children. The Black Suitcase of Magical Amulets with a Mysterious History. Found on a parchment paper of middle eastern descent was the information regarding an amulet of protection from Lilith. In the pashkevil broadsides which are popular in ultra-orthodox Jewish communities, the word is often used to describe various ills which have spread throughout modern Israeli society, whether they be of a biological, theological or moral nature. Blind Dragon acts as an intermediary between Lilith and Samael: Blind Dragon rides Lilith the Sinful may she be extirpated quickly in our days, Amen! And the Serpent seduced Holy Eve, and enough said for him who understands. (eds. The names of the three angels as well as those of Lilith and Satan, also appear. This amulet was written on parchment. [82], Rabbi Naphtali Hirsch ben Elieser Treves described this custom as early as 1560, and later references to a knife or sword by the birthing bed by both Paul Christian Kirchner and Johann Christian Georg Bodenschatz indicate its continuance. [49] Moses said: [God,] do not do it [i.e. It seems these tales were known even before they appeared in the stories of ben Sirah. A publication about birth customs by the Jewish Museum of Switzerland also includes oral accounts from 20th century Baden-Wrttemberg which likewise mention circling movements with a knife in order to protect a woman in childbirth.[82]. [85] Her gift was the "mark of a Sibyl", a gift of second sight. The mystical writing of two brothers Jacob and Isaac Hacohen, Treatise on the Left Emanation, which predates the Zohar by a few decades, states that Samael and Lilith are in the shape of an androgynous being, double-faced, born out of the emanation of the Throne of Glory and corresponding in the spiritual realm to Adam and Eve, who were likewise born as a hermaphrodite. The names of three angels, potent against Lilith, are mentioned - Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof - and those three names are inscribed in this print, in abbreviated forms: Snvi, Snsnvi, Smnglf. The grief caused Lamia to turn into a monster that took revenge on mothers by stealing their children and devouring them. [72] With Lilith being unable to fornicate with Samael anymore, she sought to couple with men who experience nocturnal emissions. In 1863, Dante Gabriel Rossetti of the Brotherhood began painting what would later be his first rendition of Lady Lilith, a painting he expected to be his "best picture hitherto". Tags. Despite the rather unsettling picturesqueness of this account, it is conveyed in numerous places: Genesis Rabbah 18:6, and BT Sotah 9b, Shabbat 145b146a and 156a, Yevamot 103b and Avodah Zarah 22b.[49]. However, she was "cursed" to never be able to shut her eyes so that she would forever obsess over her dead children. If Lilith nevertheless succeeded in approaching the child and fondling him, he would laugh in his sleep. she said. [56], Key features of the depiction of Lilith or Lilit include the following. No Children Allowed: Introducing Lilith, the Jewish Vampire Queen. Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof are featured in this amulet (from the Bill Gross Collection) that safeguards a newborn child and its mother with an incantation against Lilith. However, God drove them off. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof (sometimes written Semangelof, or Snvi, Snsnvi and Smnglof) are three guarding angels in Jewish mythology. [103] Dion Fortune writes, "The Virgin Mary is reflected in Lilith",[104] and that Lilith is the source of "lustful dreams". Major sources in Jewish tradition regarding Lilith in chronological order include: The Dead Sea Scrolls contain one indisputable reference to Lilith in Songs of the Sage (4Q510511)[42] fragment 1: And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendour so as to frighten and to te[rrify] all the spirits of the destroying angels, spirits of the bastards, demons, Lilith, howlers, and [desert dwellers] and those which fall upon men without warning to lead them astray from a spirit of understanding and to make their heart and their desolate during the present dominion of wickedness and predetermined time of humiliations for the sons of lig[ht], by the guilt of the ages of [those] smitten by iniquity not for eternal destruction, [bu]t for an era of humiliation for transgression.[43]. Found in the wild waters The message was delivered She declined their offer Thus refused to return. In this tradition it is made clear that Samael and Lilith were born as one, similar to the form of Adam and Eve who were also born as one, reflecting what is above. The first one is present in Genesis Rabbah 22:7 and 18:4: according to Rabbi Hiyya God proceeded to create a second Eve for Adam, after Lilith had to return to dust. And all this ruination came about because Adam the first man coupled with Eve while she was in her menstrual impurity this is the filth and the impure seed of the Serpent who mounted Eve before Adam mounted her. [15] The Isaiah 34:14 Lilith reference does not appear in most common Bible translations such as KJV and NIV. ", "Leave me!' [77], The sheet contains two texts within borders, which are amulets, one for a male ('lazakhar'), the other one for a female ('lanekevah'). [30] Modern research has identified the figure as one of the main goddesses of the Mesopotamian pantheons, most probably Ereshkigal. A 15th or 16th century Kabbalah text states that God has "cooled" the female Leviathan, meaning that he has made Lilith infertile and she is a mere fornication. The work has been characterized by some scholars as satirical, but Ginzberg concluded it was meant seriously.[59]. This is why one hundred of Lilith's demon children die every day and why the names of the three angels, Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, written on an amulet, protect people from her evil influence. On the other three pages of the bifolium is a list of Torah and Prophets readings. Enter your e-mail below to receive the most interesting, quality content about the treasures preserved in the National Library! Lilith.Faust: The Hebrew title appearing at the top reads This amulet is for plague from the holy ARI (The holy ARI was Rabbi Isaac Luria, Vitals teacher). After Mephistopheles offers this warning to Faust, he then, quite ironically, encourages Faust to dance with "the Pretty Witch". This edition was published in 1855 in the city of Lemberg, todays Lviv, in western Ukraine. After a while, Lilith returned to the Garden of Eden but found that Adam had another partner, Eve. Lilith in Historical Text In Hebrew-language texts, the term lilith or lilit (translated as "night creatures", "night monster", "night hag", or "screech owl") first occurs in a list of animals in Isaiah 34. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one." hawks [kites, gledes] also they-gather, every one with its mate. Another interesting text can be found in a manuscript which is part of the Bill Gross Collection and which received the rather generic title, Prayers Against the Plague. Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. Said the Holy One to Adam, "If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. The demon(ess) is entirely static.[52]. [25], Suggested translations for the Tablet XII spirit in the tree include ki-sikil as "sacred place", lil as "spirit", and lil-la-ke as "water spirit",[26] but also simply "owl", given that the lil is building a home in the trunk of the tree. And just as the Dragon that is in the sea (Isa. If you placed an amulet with the name of the 3 Angels on it, and placed it on the baby, lilith could not harm it. "Printed sheet, late 17th century or early 18th century, 185x130 mm. According to myths, Lilith, the female demon, is looking to snatch and devour sleeping infants as revenge on Adam. [12] For example, in the 13th-century writings of Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she had coupled with the archangel Samael. The main difference here relates to the type of pestilence which was spreading across the country, with the text mentioning an outbreak of cholera morbus ( ) and expressing the hope that no harm will befall us, nor will a plague draw near to our tent. Folkloric traditions recorded around 1953 tell about a jinn called Qarinah, who was rejected by Adam and mated with Iblis instead. [citation needed]. These two aspects of the Lilith legend seemed to have evolved separately; there is hardly a tale where she encompasses both roles. Blair. In this case Asmodeus and Lilith were believed to procreate demonic offspring endlessly and spread chaos at every turn. As opposed to the Kabbalists of Safed, who invoked the secret divine names to save themselves, the scribes of this manuscript decided to make use of canonical texts telling of the victories of God over the various plagues which threatened the People of Israel. How overjoyed I am to think, sir, They found her beside the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons. The "screech owl" translation of the King James Version is, together with the "owl" (yanup, probably a water bird) in 34:11 and the "great owl" (qippoz, properly a snake) of 34:15, an attempt to render the passage by choosing suitable animals for difficult to translate Hebrew words. The Myth's Origins In the book of Genesis 1:27 it says, "Male and female, He created them." For instance, Isaiah, describing the condition to which Babylon was to be reduced after her ruin, says that she shall become the abode of satyrs, lamiae, and strigae (in Hebrew, lilith). The angels very names Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof are seen as safeguards against Liliths actions. She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. It made its way to the Land of Israel from Egypt around 541-542 AD. Third, and despite the terseness of the biblical text in this regard, the erotic iniquities attributed to Eve constitute a separate category of her shortcomings. Under the threat of death, Eve admits that she never loved Adam, while Lilith confesses that she always loved him: As the worst of the venom left my lips, [75], A copy of Jean de Pauly's translation of the Zohar in the Ritman Library contains an inserted late 17th century printed Hebrew sheet for use in magical amulets where the prophet Elijah confronts Lilith. Adam complained to God: "I have been deserted by my helpmeet." God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith 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."

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