Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural

This book is a gem. I received it as a gift when it first came out in 1988, and remains one of my favorite books. Be warned, the themes are often mature and so this book is best for readers 14 and up. It is a diverse anthology of Jewish supernatural folklore, with stories spanning over one thousand years and originating from France to Persia. Lilith's Cave also has an insightful Forward, written by Howard Schwartz, which analyzes many recurring times through a socio-historical perspective, offering readers a provocative angle from which to view these stories. For example, Lilith was a female demon referenced in ancient texts, and she is the opposite archetype of Eve because of her assertiveness and dominance. We see her trying to snatch the life from human infants, but being thwarted by wise midwives. Some stories show "good" demons (similar to European pagan fairies) interacting with humans. Occasionally, humans in conflict with demons set up a trials to decide the outcome of a the dispute, humans vs. demons, based on Jewish Law. I learned many aspects of Jewish culture, religious beliefs, and practices throughout the ages, as well as their occasional Christian influences, through this edgy book. This material is further supplemented by detailed references at the end. This hardcover version contains beautiful illustrations that complement the stories.

Whether you are well educated in Lilith mythology and folklore or just starting out, this is a great book for any Lilith enthusiast. The stories are presented in an easy to read format. Many of them are short enough to read if you have a spare five minutes. What a great collection!

This book is a blessing for those who like supernatural tales and supernatural folklore. The tales are enticing, and it's got beautiful surrealist black and white illustrations. It's a great pleasure to have it.

Nice stories. After a while they start to revolve around the same ideas so it gets a little repetitive but nonetheless they are entertaining and nice to read at bedtime. Also many of them are very old - I remember seeing a story from 5th century and I thought to myself “how cool to hear the same story people told so long ago...”

I was pleasantly surprised by the books stories. Not only does this book provide deep exegesis into Jewish myth, midrash, folklore, and the supernatural with an emphasis on demonology, but the stories are cherry picked to delve into the human condition and make us question how to recognize and turn away from the seemingly easy or simple evil around us. The notes Schwartz provides are worth the price of admission if you recognize how famous theses stories are. Not only do you get his scholarly research into Jewish folklore, but you get the stories at no additional cost! Such a deal! this book is a can't miss.

This is such a neat book, it arrived before I expected it to and in excellent condition. Not to mention that it's an extremely interesting read! I recommend it for anyone who is Jewish and/or interested in Mythology and folklore.

Great read

Interesting read

Lots of variety of tales. If you like supernatural this is the book

testo molto interessante.

Die geschichte sind interrasant.

Si te gustan las historias sobrenaturales poco corrientes este libro es perfecto.Intenté buscarlo en español pero no hubo suerte, he de decir que mi nivel de ingles es un B2 y me costó un poco leerlo debido al vocabulario y a la construcción de las frases.El libro está dividido en 50 cuentos de diferentes autores.

In my own ignorance and prejudice, I always associated Jews with holocaust stories and boring Biblical stuff. So, being completely ignorant of anything Jewish, I bought this book out of curiosity. And I'm glad I did. It opened a door to a whole new world of literature that I had no idea it existed. This antology of short stories are beautiful and entertaining. The general introduction, comments and notes are very interesting and useful for putting the stories in context.