Lailah

The angel Lailah or Laylah (Hebrew "night") is an angel of the night in some interpretations in the Talmud and in some later Jewish mythology.

Etymology

The name Lailah is the same as the Hebrew word for "night" laylah לילה. The identification of the word "night" as the name of an angel originates with the interpretation of "Rabbi Yochanan" (possibly Yochanan ben Zakkai c. 30 - 90 AD) who read "At night [Abraham] and his servants deployed against them and defeated them” (JPS Genesis 14.14) as "by [an angel called] night" (Sanhedrin 96a).

The noun for "night" in the Semitic languages is derived from the tri-consonantal root: L-Y-L, also found in Arabic laylah "night" (Arabic: ليلى‎). The root is also shared with the Hebrew noun liliyt, "night creature", one origin of the Lilith myth.

The ending lah is a feminine. Lailah is the only angel with a feminine name and distinctly feminine characteristics.

An angel called "night"

Hebrew Bible

An angel Layla is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. There is no direct indication of angelic involvement in Abraham's coalition with the Semite kings Chedorlaomer, Tidal, Amraphel and Arioch and their night attack on the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. "Rabbi Yochanan"'s interpretation of "at night" in Genesis 14:14 is usually seen in the context of the Second Temple period with an increased interest in angels and the Jewish angelic hierarchy.