Marriage with demons; dybbuks, the spirits of the evil dead that possesses a living human, that must be exorcised; Lilith, the queen of demons, who was the legendary first wife of Adam.

These are not only tales of the supernatural, but tales of the Jewish supernatural that have played an important role in the Jewish tradition, Howard Schwartz, a Jewish professor and author, said.

In the Middle Ages when there were no explanations for events such as disasters, people of these times would blame them on supernatural forces, Schwartz said.

Advertisement

This Tuesday, SIUC students will have the opportunity to hear such tales as these and more when Schwartz lectures on Jewish Tales of the Supernatural.

Schwartz, a professor of English at the University of Missouri-St Louis, said Jewish tales have been in the Jewish tradition from Biblical times to the present.

The most famous tale is that of Lilith, the queen of demons, who Schwartz said is present in more than just one form of evil.

Schwartz said in the Middle Ages, when children ended up missing, or if a family had a child who died, they would blame Lilith. Also, when people have sexual dreams, Lilith is thought to have seduced them in their sleep.

Schwartz said even in modern times, Lilith has been a major figure. In the 1960s, Jewish feminists picked Lilith as a role model because of her independence. Today there is a Jewish feminist magazine titled Lilith, Schwartz said.

I try to argue that Lilith is not a good role model, Schwartz said. Sometimes it gets into a heated discussion.

Other tales include marriage with demons. Schwartz said 40 days before a person was born, a voice from heaven would tell who that person was destined to marry.

Advertisement*

Demons also could hear the voice and would create a demonic double. The double would try to trick the person into marrying him or her, and was often successful, Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he has been interested in this subject since the 1970s. He said he became more involved after a trip to Israel, when he met the head of the Israel Folklore Archives.

After that, I was pulled deeply into the world of these tales, he said.

Scwartz said there has been an increasing interest in the Jewish supernatural over the past 15 years.

Schwartz has edited a four-volume set of Jewish folk tales, all published by Oxford University Press. He also has edited three anthologies of Jewish folk tales and two children’s books.

Schwartz will speak Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the University Museum.