Girls in Trouble is an indie-folk song cycle about women in Torah by musician, writer and Torah teacher, Alicia Jo Rabins. The Girls in Trouble Curriculum links these musical midrashim with their source texts, Alicia's notes, and other artistic interpretations, inviting teachers, students, and individual learners on a journey through the world of women in Torah. We hope you enjoy this concise version of the Lilith unit. To download the full unit, including teacher's notes, please visit www.girlsintroublemusic.com.
Behind the Music: Notes from singer/songwriter Alicia Jo Rabins
Lilith is a mystical, mysterious creature. Although her story does not appear in the Torah, her legend has been passed on for over three thousand years. Her story varies wildly; she is sometimes feared as a destructive force, and other times beloved as a symbol of female liberation.
To learn about Lilith is to encounter demons, angels, magic, incantations, and radical re-imaginings of the story of Creation. Many contemporary feminist thinkers, artists, and writers have reclaimed Lilith’s compelling power in modern times. To follow Lilith’s journey is to experience a prism of relationships to female power. (The full curriculum unit includes many of the mystical and feminist texts referenced here.)
Demoness or heroine: which version will you choose? Or will you imagine a new Lilith?
SONG LYRICS
(First listen - we suggest listening a second time after reading the texts below)
WE ARE ANDROGYNOUS
a song from Lilith to Adam by Alicia Jo Rabins/Girls in Trouble
We are androgynous double-faced beings,
one looking forward and one looking back.
Formed in the light of the throne in the sky,
we are never alone and we never die.
Two forms of dust, of the one and the many;
a vapor to moisten them both into clay.
Two hands to guide us, to form us and shape us,
until we are ready to walk away.
We are, we are, we are,
we are, we are, we are.
We are androgynous double-faced beings,
torn from each other and rendered in two.
Two flaming swords guard the garden of Eden,
but I won’t go back there without you.
Questions:
1. What is your initial response to this song?
2. What images or emotions come to mind when you listen to the music and/or words?
3. How does this song portray Lilith? What questions about Lilith come up for you as you listen to this song?
1. FIRST VERSION OF CREATION
(26) And God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth." (27) And God created humankind in God’s image, in God’s image God created it; male and female God created them. (28) God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth."
(29) God said, "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. (30) And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food." And it was so. (31) And God saw all that God had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Translation: Adapted from JPS.
Note that according to some mystical teachings, Lilith - not Eve - is the woman created in this story.
2. SECOND VERSION OF CREATION
(7) Then God formed the man [Hebrew, Adam] from the dust of the earth [adamah]. God blew into the man’s nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being…
Translation: ours, informed by Phyllis Trible and JPS
(18) God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him.” (19) And God formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever he called each living creature, that would be its name. (20) And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to all the wild beasts; but for Adam no fitting helper was found. (21) So God cast a deep sleep upon the man; and, while he slept, God took one of his ribs [lit., “sides”] and closed up the flesh at that spot. (22) And God fashioned the rib that God had taken from Adam into a woman; and God brought her to Adam. (23) Then Adam said,
“This one at last
Is bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh.
This one shall be called Woman,
For from man was she taken.”
Translation: ours, informed by Phyllis Trible and JPS
Note that according to the mystical interpretations in which Lilith was created in the first story above, this creation - Eve - was a second woman.
Questions for Discussion:
1. How are man and woman created in each of these stories? What is the same in each version, and how do the versions differ?
2. How do you interpret the fact that there are two different versions of the creation of humankind?
SONG LYRICS: SECOND LISTEN
WE ARE ANDROGYNOUS
a song from Lilith to Adam by Alicia Jo Rabins/Girls in Trouble
We are androgynous double-faced beings,
one looking forward and one looking back.
Formed in the light of the throne in the sky,
we are never alone and we never die.
Two forms of dust, of the one and the many;
a vapor to moisten them both into clay.
Two hands to guide us, to form us and shape us,
until we are ready to walk away.
We are, we are, we are,
we are, we are, we are.
We are androgynous double-faced beings,
torn from each other and rendered in two.
Two flaming swords guard the garden of Eden,
but I won’t go back there without you.
Questions:
1. How does hearing this song after reading the texts differ from listening the first time, before reading them?
2. What motifs from Genesis can you find in this song?
3. What do you think of Alicia's decision to cast Lilith as a lover, rather than a demon? Which version of Lilith do you prefer?
For more songs and study guides about women in Torah, as well as upcoming performances, come visit us at www.girlsintroublemusic.com.