orld;(564) or the
Persian _Ashma Deva_ (Evil Spirit), under the Hebrew name of _Ashmodai_ or
_Shemachzai_.(565) The queen of the demons was _Lilith_ or _Iggereth bath
Mahlath_, "the dancer on the housetops."(566)

The Essenes seem to have made special studies of both demonology and
angelology, believing that they could invoke the good spirits and conjure
the evil ones, thus curing various diseases, which they ascribed to
possession by demons. While these exorcisms are not so common in the
Talmud as they are in the New Testament, there remain many indications
that such practices were followed by Jewish saints and believed by the
people. Often the rabbis seem to have considered them the work of "unclean
spirits," which they endeavored to overcome with the "spirit of holiness,"
and particularly by the study of the Torah.(567)

3. This answers implicitly the question of the origin of demons. Obviously
the belief in malevolent spirits is incompatible with the existence of an
all-benign and all-wise Creator. Accordingly, two alternative explanations
are offered in the rabbinical and apocalyptic writings. According to one,
the demons are half angelic and half animal beings, sharing intelligence
and flight with the angels, sensuality with beasts and with men. Their
double nature is ascribed to incompleteness, because they were created
last of all beings, and their creation was interrupted by the coming of
the Sabbath, putting an end to all creation.(568) According to the other
view they are the offspring of the "fallen angels," issuing from the union
of the angels with the daughters of men as described in Gen. VI, 1 f.
These spread the virus of impurity over all the earth, causing carnal
desire and every kind of lewdness. The whole world of demons is regarded
as alienated from God by the rebellion of the heavenly hosts, as if the
fall of man by sin had its prototype in the celestial sphere.(569) A
rabbinical legend, which corresponds with a Persian myth, ascribes the
origin of demons to the intercourse of Adam with Lilith, the night
spirit.(570) On the other hand, the archangel Samael is said to have cast
lascivious glances at the beauty of Eve, and then to have turned into
Satan the Tempter.(571) The Jewish systems of both angelology and
demonology, first worked out in the apocalyptic literature, were further
elaborated by the Cabbalah.

Angelology found a conspicuous place in the liturgy in connection with the
_Kedushah_ Be