ספר כלבו סימן מד
ונשים חייבות בנ"ח שאף הן היו באותו הנס, פירוש שהאויבים באו לאבד הכל אנשים ונשים וטף, ויש מפרשים שעל ידי אשה אירע להם הנס הגדול ההוא ושמה יהודית כמו שמפורש באגדה בת היתה ליוחנן כהן גדול והיתה יפת תואר מאד ואמר המלך יון שתשכב עמו והאכילתו תבשיל של גבינה כדי שיצמא וישתה לרוב וישתכר וישכב וירדם ויהי לה כן וישכב וירדם ותקח חרבו וחתכה ראשו ותביאהו לירושלים וכראות החיל כי מת גבורם וינוסו, ועל כן נהגו לעשות תבשיל של גבינה בחנוכה
The Book of the Kolbo, Chapter 44
Women are obligated to light Hannukah candles, for they too were included in the miracle. This means that the enemies came to destroy everyone, men, women, and children, and there are those who say that the great miracle occurred through a woman. Her name was Judith, as the story goes, and she was the daughter of Yochanan, the high priest. She was extremely beautiful, and the Greek king wanted her to lay with him. She fed him a dish of cheese to make him thirsty, so that he would drink a great deal and became drunk, and recline and fall asleep. And it happened just that way, and once he was asleep, she took his sword and cut off his head. She brought his head to Jerusalem, and when the armies saw that their leader had been killed, they fled. For this reason, we have the custom of eating a cheese dish on Hannukah.
The Kolbo is attributed to Rabbi Aharon ben Jacob of Narbonne. Composed in the 13th century.
בכ"ה בכסליו (מתחילים) שמונת ימי חנוכה ואסורים בהספד ותענית אבל מותרין בעשיית מלאכה ונוהגות הנשים שלא לעשות מלאכה בעוד שהנרות דולקות ויש מי שאומר שאין להקל להם:
Code of Jewish Law, by Yosef Karo, Safed, Israel (1488 - 1575 CE)
Compendium of Jewish law by Eliezer Melamed, (Israel, 1961 CE - present)
~ Were you aware of these customs? How does it impact you?
~ What does it imply about women?
~ What are stories you know involving women and Chanukah?
And, the Gemara remarks, now that we say that lighting accomplishes the mitzva, there are practical ramifications. If a deaf-mute, an imbecile, or a minor, all of whom are of limited intellectual capacity and not obligated in mitzvot, kindled the Hanukkah light, he did nothing in terms of fulfilling the mitzva. However, a woman certainly lights, as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Women are obligated in lighting the Hanukkah light, as they too were included in that miracle. Rav Sheshet said: A guest is obligated in lighting the Hanukkah light in the place where he is being hosted. The Gemara relates that Rabbi Zeira said: At first, when I was studying in the yeshiva, I would participate with perutot, copper coins, together with the host, so that I would be a partner in the light that he kindled. After I married my wife, I said: Now I certainly need not do so because they light on my behalf in my house.
~ What does Rabbi Zeira imply regarding his and his wife's standing in relation to the mitzvah of the candles of Chanukah?
היו באותו הנס - שגזרו יוונים על כל בתולות הנשואות להיבעל לטפסר תחלה ועל יד אשה נעשה הנס:
In the miracle - that the Greeks ordered that every virgin that was going to be married had to have sexual relations with the commander first, and it was through a woman that the miracle happened.
~ Why doesn't Rashi tell the story?
"The Lessons of Chanukah's Women
The New Jersey Jewish Week - Francine Klagsbrun
Three women’s stories have been connected to the holiday, each reflecting a different aspect of Jewish tradition and women’s lives. For centuries, the best known was the narrative of Hannah and her seven sons, which, like the Maccabee saga, appears in the Apocrypha (works not included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible). Hers is a familiar story in Jewish history, one of suffering and martyrdom, and she plays the familiar woman’s role of a strong and pious mother. In this case her strength and piety are put to the ultimate test as the cruel Antiochus, Seleucid king of Syria, tries to force each of her sons to eat pork, forbidden in Judaism. As each refuses, he is tortured and murdered while his agonized mother looks on. The king urges Hannah to persuade her remaining youngest son to save his life by eating the pork. Instead, she encourages him to follow his brothers’ example and martyr himself. Torn by grief, with her sons gone, she dies also. Hannah’s commitment to Jewish law under the direst circumstances encouraged generations of Jews in many lands as they faced pogroms and persecutions.
A very different Hannah takes center stage in a second Chanukah story, generally told in books of legends. This is a young Hannah, sister of the Maccabees, and about to be married. Determined to prevent the local Syrian ruler from exercising his “droit de seigneur,” the right to have sexual relations with a new bride, she strips naked before the guests at her wedding feast. When her brothers threaten to kill her because of her shameful behavior, she demands that they save the honor of all Jewish women by fighting the Syrians. As the tale goes, her action sparks their rebellion.
Then there is the story of Judith.
In this narrative, Holofernes, an Assyrian general, sets out to conquer Judea, but is stopped by the people of Bethulia (possibly Jerusalem). He besieges the city, and, worn down by hunger and thirst, the elders decide to surrender. Enter Judith. The beautiful widow berates the leaders for their lack of faith and devises her own plan. Taking her maid and a sack of food to eat (she observes Jewish dietary laws), she talks her way into Holofernes’ camp. There she convinces the general that she deserted her people, and by praying to God she can bring him victory. For three days, she leaves in the nighttime to pray, and returns in the morning, thus accustoming the guards to her coming and going. On the fourth day, Holofernes gives a banquet in her honor. Overcome by lust and planning to seduce her, he dismisses his servants, then drinks himself into a stupor. Judith grabs his sword and with all her might hacks off his head. She and her maid leave, this time with Holofernes’ head in their sack. After discovering his headless body, the Assyrian army flees in disarray, and the Jews win a great victory, “by a woman’s hand.”
https://njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com/the-lessons-of-chanukahs-women/
~ What are the roles of each of those women, in relation to the males in the story?
~ What does Mother Hannah do in terms of spiritual resistance?
~ How does Hannah convince the brothers to engage in physical resistance?
~ What weapons does Judith use to convince the guards and Holofernes that she is harmless?
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Women are obligated in these four cups of wine at the Passover seder. As they too were included in that miracle.
שאף הן היו באותו הנס - כדאמרינן (סוטה דף יא:) בשכר נשים צדקניות שבאותו הדור נגאלו וכן גבי מקרא מגילה נמי אמרינן הכי דמשום דע"י אסתר נגאלו וכן גבי נר חנוכה במסכת שבת (ד' כג.):
"As they too were part of the miracle" - As we say (Sotah 11b) that through the merit of righteous women in that generation they were all redeemed, and similarly for Megillah we also say that because of Esther were they redeemed, and similarly regarding Chanukah candles in Tractate Shabbat.
~ What are other significant women in the story of Moshe and the Exodus?
Extra points if you can name all 7.
ואריב"ל נשים חייבות במקרא מגילה שאף הן היו באותו הנס ...
§ And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi also said: Women are obligated in the reading of the Megilla, as they too were part of that miracle. ...
הכל חייבים בקריאתה אנשים ונשים וגרים ועבדים משוחררים ומחנכים את הקטנים לקרותה:
"As they too were part of the miracle" - that Haman decreed even about women, "to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish from young to old, babes and women etc"
They were in that same miracle: Rashba"m explained that they [the Jews] were redeemed through them [the women]. And similarly, in the Megilla, through Esther, and in Chanuka, through Judith. And it is difficult, since "even" implies that they aren't the main thing. And also, the version in the Jerusalem Talmud is "even they were in that same uncertainty," implying in that danger of "to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish" (Esther 3:13). And this that we say that they [women] are exempt from [the commandment of] sukka, even though that even they were in that same miracle, is [based on] "that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths" (Leviticus 23:43), there, is regarding a positive Torah commandment. However, regarding the four cups, which is rabbinic, they established it also for women, since they were in that same miracle.
שאף הן היו באותו הנס. פירש רשב"ם שעיקר הנס היה על ידן בפורים על ידי אסתר בחנוכה על ידי יהודית בפסח שבזכות צדקניות שבאותו הדור נגאלו וקשה דלשון שאף הן משמע שהן טפלות ולפירושו היה לו לומר שהן לכך נראה לי שאף הן היו בספק דלהשמיד ולהרוג וכן בפסח שהיו משועבדות לפרעה במצרים וכן בחנוכה הגזירה היתה מאד עליהן. ...
Since they were also part of the same miracle. Rashbam explained, that the primary part of the miracle was done by them; Purim - by Esther, Chanukah - by Judith, Pesach - for they were saved in the merit of the righteous ones of that generation. And this [interpretation] is difficult, for the language "since they were also" implies that they were secondary, and according to his [Rashbam's] interpretation, it should have said "since they were". Therefore, it seems to me, that [reasoning must be because] they were also potentially going to be wiped out and killed, and so too on Pesach, when they were enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt, and in Chanukah, the decrees applied to them too. ...
~ How do Rashi's grandsons deal with the idea of salvation of the Jewish people be through women?
~ How does the language "since they also" undermine this idea?
(ב) אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי: נשים חייבות בארבע כוסות בליל הסדר (פסחים קח, ב), ובמקרא מגילה (מגילה ד, א), ובהדלקת נרות חנוכה (שבת כג, א), "שאף הן היו באותו הנס".
(ג) שני פירושים לכך: לרש"י ורשב"ם (פסחים קח, ב, שבת כג, א), חיובן נובע מזה שהן היו שותפות משמעותיות באותו הנס, שכן על יציאת מצרים אמרו חכמים (סוטה יא, ב): "בזכות נשים שהיו באותו הדור נגאלו ישראל ממצרים". למרות ייסורי השיעבוד, הנשים לא איבדו את תקוות הגאולה, וניחמו את הבעלים וילדו את הדור הבא. נס פורים כידוע בא על ידי אסתר. ונס חנוכה התחיל על ידי אשה ושמה יהודית, שבגבורתה הצליחה לכרות את ראשו של ההגמון הצורר, וביטלה את גזירת היוונים כנגד הבתולות (ע' פניני הלכה זמנים יא, 12-14). אם כן יוצא, שמבחינה מסוימת שייכותן של הנשים למצוות הללו אף קודמת לגברים.
(ד) אולם דעת רוב המפרשים, שמלשון "אף הן" משמע שעיקר החיוב על הגברים ואף הנשים נגררות אחריהם בחיוב המצווה, כי אף הן היו באותו הנס (תוס' פסחים קח, ב, מגילה ד, א, וכ"כ רשב"א, ריטב"א, ר"ן, מאירי ועוד).
(2) Yehoshua b. Levi said: Women must drink four cups of wine on the night of the Seder (Pesaĥim 108b), read the megilla (Megilla 4a), and light Ĥanuka candles (Shabbat 23a) “for they too participated in that miracle.”
(3) There are two interpretations of this dictum: According to Rashi and Rashbam (Pesaḥim 108b; Shabbat 23a) women’s obligation stems from the fact that they participated significantly in those miracles. Regarding the Exodus the Sages said: “In the merit of the women who lived in that generation the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt” (Sota 11b). Despite the terrible slavery, the women did not lose hope of redemption; they reassured their husbands and gave birth to the next generation. The miracle of Purim, of course, transpired through Esther. The miracle of Ḥanuka began with a woman named Yehudit, who heroically beheaded the enemy governor and led to the abolition of the Greek decree of jus primae noctis (see Peninei Halakha: Zemanim, ch. 11 nn. 12-14). Thus, from a certain standpoint, women’s connection to these mitzvot supersedes that of men.
(4) However, most commentaries understand that the words “they too” (“af hen”) indicate the primary obligation applies to men (who are obligated in time-bound positive mitzvot) and that women are obligated in the mitzva secondarily because “they too participated in that miracle” (Tosafot Pesaḥim 108b and Megilla 4a, Rashba, Ritva, Ran, Me’iri, and others).
Rabbi David Hartman, Trusting in a New Beginning in A Different Light
In considering the miracle of the cruse of oil, our Rabbis asked why the holiday of Hanukkah was celebrated for eight days rather than for seven days. Since there was, by all accounts, sufficient oil for one day, only seven of the eight days of burning may be designated as miraculous days. Though several ingenious explanations were offered, what strikes me as being the miraculous feature of the initial day was the community's willingness to light the lamp in spite of the fact that its anticipated period of burning was short-lived. The miracle of the first day was expressed in the community's willingness to light a small cruse of oil without reasonable assurance that their efforts would be sufficient to complete the rededication of the Temple. Hanukkah celebrates the miracle expressed by those who lit the lamp and not only the miracle of the lamp's continued burning for eight days.
The Question:
Why are women explicitly obligated in certain commandments?
The Pedestal Reasoning:
Women as heroines
The Secondary Status reasoning:
Women as auxiliary
The Inclusion Reasoning:
Women as human beings
The Corollary of Inclusion:
Women should observe all mitzvot