Question
Was Lilith Adam’s first wife?
Answer
In early sources, Lilith is a demoness. There is also a medieval source, known as the “Alphabet of Ben Sira” (a small collection of epigrams and moral tales; not authored by the Ben Sira who lived during the Second Temple period) that says that she was Adam’s first wife. Specifically, it tells how, before Eve was created from Adam’s rib, G-d first created from the earth a wife for Adam named Lilith. She and Adam immediately started fighting because she demanded full equality; she soon fled and became a demoness who strangles newborn children and causes women to die in childbirth.