Launch date of *Lilith* magazine, a landmark Jewish feminist publication that reclaimed the mythic name.
On 1 January 1976, the literary magazine Lilith was founded as a Jewish feminist publication. Named for the mythic figure, the magazine deliberately reclaimed the symbol of Lilith as a voice for Jewish women’s identity, creativity, and political agency. Its launch marked a major cultural milestone in the modern reinterpretation of Lilith from demonized folklore figure to feminist and Jewish cultural icon.
The publication mattered because it created an influential platform for essays, fiction, poetry, criticism, and journalism centered on Jewish women’s lives at a time when mainstream religious and cultural institutions often marginalized them. By adopting Lilith as its title, the magazine turned a figure once used to police women’s behavior into a symbol of independence and intellectual authority. Its legacy includes shaping Jewish feminist discourse, supporting women writers, and reinforcing Lilith’s status as a reclaimed emblem of autonomy in the late twentieth century.