Ver Wayne State University WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES * I UP FRONT I Lilith Continued from Page 5 in cooperation with THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN presents An International Conference THE HEBREW BIBLE: SACRED TEXT AND LITERATURE October 30-November 2, 1988 Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan *The Center is a cooperative effort of the University and the United Jewish Charities of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. The conference is partially funded by a grant from the National Endowment fo the Humanities. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30 Opening Address — 8 p.m. "THE HEBREW BIBLE AND THE JEWISH HERITAGE" Moshe Greenberg The Hebrew University Jewish Community Center 6600 W. Maple, West Bloomfield midrash," Bernstein said. "The demon, the whore. Nowadays she is seen both as a strong woman — like the feminist magazine that bears her name — and as a temp- tress, a frightening force of evil?' The details of Lilith's life are not found in the Torah, but in the midrash, the ex- egetical portions of the Talmud in which the rabbis in narrative form attempted to fill in details omitted from the biblical text. Lilith would not be sexual- ly subservient to Adam, Bern- stein said, describing the midrash. And so Adam com- plained to God. Rather than MONDAY, OCTOBER 31 Wayne State University McGregor Memorial Conference Center Session II 2:15-5:00 p.m. Session I 9:30 12 Noon - "THE FORMATION OF CANON" "SOURCE CRITICISM" James Vanderkam, North Carolina State University Joseph Blenkinsopp, University of Notre Dame RESPONSE: David Noel Freedman, University of Michigan Jeffrey Tigay, University of Pennsylvania William Propp, University of California — San Diego RESPONSE: Rolf Knierim, Claremont School of Theology Baruch Levine, New York University TUESDAY, ,NOVEMBER 1 The University of Michigan Rackham Building Session II 2:30-5:30 p.m. Session I 10:30-12:30 p.m. "BIBLICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY" "ANCIENT EXEGESIS" , Peter Machinist, Univeristy of Michigan Baruch Halpern, York University RESPONSE: Jack Sasson, University of North Carolina Alan Cooper, HUC-JR Marc Brettler, Brandeis University RESPONSE: Moshe Greenberg, The Hebrew University Session III 8:00-10:00 p.m. "THE USES OF MODERN LITERARY CRITICISM IN INTERPRETATION" Edward Greenstein, The Jewish Theological Seminary Adele Berlin, University of Maryland RESPONSE: Michael Patrick O'Connor, Ann Arbor, Michigan WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2 Wayne State University McGregor Memorial Conference Center Concluding Session 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. "THE HEBREW BIBLE AND THE WESTERN LITERARY TRADITION" Herbert Schneidau, University of Arizona RESPONSE: Jill Robbins, SUNY — Buffalo David Stern, University of Pennsylvania Admission to all programs is free 16 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1988 Inquiries (313) 577-3015 Mashey Bernstein: Fear and attraction. bow to the wills of her hus- band and the Almighty, Lilith invoked the name of God and vanished. She took up habita- tion at the bottom of the Red Sea. Ever since, she has been viewed as the killer of newborn children. Tradition has it that Lilith impregnates herself with unused semen and gives birth to demon children. When a man dies, these demon children try to gather at his casket. The Lilith concept fits neat- ly into the Ofthodox Jewish .view of sex roles, Bernstein said. "The rabbis siphoned off the sexual aspect of woman and called her Lilith." Eve became the domesticated wife and mother, the Aishet Chayal, the Woman of Valor, "because a woman who is sex- ually free cannot be a wife." "The makers of Fatal At- traction probably had no idea that they were recreating a Lilith myth," Bernstein said. "They just tapped into certain fears and ideas we all share." Bernstein used clips from the film to demonstrate the parallels between Lilith and Fatal Attraction. Lilith's association with water and nature recur in the film, Bernstein said. The Lilith character, played by Glenn Close, is named Alex Forest. Her surname suggests the forces of nature, while her first initial suggests primacy: the first wife. Michael Douglas' wife is called Beth. The 'B' indicates a secondary role, like Eve. Her name in Hebrew means house, symbolizing the domesticity of the Aishet Chayal. Early in the film, Douglas and Close rendezvous in a restaurant. She asks, "Where is your wife?" He answers, "She's in the country visiting relatives?' In a short story called "Lilith and. Eve," by Jacov Lind, Lilith comes to a man and asks the same question. The man answers as Douglas did, Bernstein said. In this scene, Lilith draws the man toward the tryst. Douglas and Close make love in a kitchen sink filled with dishes. Lilith turns on the tap. "Domesticity is being taken over by sexuality. Plus you have the water element?' , The film's climactic scene takes place in an atmosphere laden with water, Lilith's natural habitat. At the end, seemingly drowned" in a bathtub, Alex appears to rise from the dead. She is finally stopped by Beth, who shoots her. "How was she able to rise again? My answer is Lilith lives in water," Bernstein said. "She is killed by her sister Eve, not the man" who has no real power over her. According to Freud, water is a symbol of sexuality, par- ticularly female sexuality, Bernstein said. He added that the concept of collective memory — the common subconscious knowledge we all share — suggested by Freud's col- league, Jung, applies to the myth of Lilith, and to Fatal Attraction. "Lilith is a symbol of a cer- tain kind of fear that women _ have, and a certain kind of at- traction that men have," Bernstein said. Long before Freud, the rab- bis of the Talmud delved into psychology. However, they us- ed biblical and theological — rather than Freudian — ter- minology and methods to ex- plain psychological phenomen. Bernstein cited one midrash which describes the possible origin of the con- fusion in male-female roles and relations. "In the beginning, women ruled the world. At some point, the men rose up and overthrew the women. The men then rewrote the holy texts to put women in a subservient role." .