Judith and Chanukah

Our praise to You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of all, for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this season.

(9) for Judith heard all the words that Uzziah had said about the water shortage demoralizing the people and how they complained bitterly to the headman of the town, and that he had sworn to deliver the city to the Assyrians after five days. (11) When the elders came in, she said to them, "Hear me now, you governors; you were wrong to speak to the people as you did today, about this oath you made between God and yourselves, and your promise to deliver the city to our enemies, unless within these days God turns to help you. (basically, it's not happening!) (12) And now who are you to put God to the test, setting yourself above God?...(15) For if God will not help us within these five days, God has power to defend us when God will, even every day, or to destroy us before our enemies. (16) (paraphrased) You cannot demand guarantees from God - it doesn't work that way!(17) Therefore let us wait for salvation from God and call upon God to help us, and God will hear our voice, if it pleases God. (19) For if we are overcome, then all Judea will lie waste and our sanctuary will be pillaged; and he will place the blame for the profanation of it at our mouth;(20) and the slaughter of our brethren and the captivity of the country and the desolation of our inheritance, God will blame on our heads among the Gentiles, wherever we will be in captivity;

(1) Judith fell upon her face and put ashes on her head and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing; ... Judith cried with a loud voice, and said, (2) O God, to whom you gave a sword to take vengeance on the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a maid to defile her, and uncovered the thigh to her shame, and polluted her virginity to her reproach; for you said, 'It will not be so,' and yet they did so. (3) Therefore you gave their rulers to be slain, so that they dyed their bed in blood, being deceived, and you struck the servants with their lords (5) O God, my God, hear me also for I am a widow.

(7) For, behold, the Assyrians are multiplied in their power; they are exalted with horse and man; they glory in the strength of their foot soldiers; (9) Throw down their strength in your power... (10) for they have resolved to defile your sanctuary and to pollute the tabernacle where your glorious name rests...

(11) Behold their pride and send your wrath upon their heads; give into my hand, the hand of a widow, the power that I have conceived. (12) Strike, by the deceit of my lips, the servant with the prince, and the prince with the servant; break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman.

(13) For your power is not found in numbers, nor your might in strong men; (14) for you are a God of the afflicted, a helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a savior of those who are without hope.(15) I pray to you, I beg you, O God

(3) And Judith was left alone in the tent with Holofernes lying on his bed, drunk.

(4) Now Judith had commanded her maid to stand outside her bedroom and to wait for her to emerge, as she did daily; (6) No one was left in the bedroom. Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart:

(7) "[God,] to whom all strength belongs, prosper what my hands are now to do for the greater glory of Jerusalem; (8) For now is the time to recover your heritage and to execute your plan to destroy the enemies who have risen against us."

(9) Then she went to the bedpost at Holofernes' head, and took down his scimitar. (10) She approached his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, "Strengthen me, O God of Israel."(11) And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and cut off his head.

(12) She gave the head of Holofernes to her maid. And she put it in her bag of meat, (13) so these two left the camp together, toward the gate.

(14) Then Judith said, from afar to the watchmen at the gate, (15) "Open, open the gate now! God, our God, is with us!"

(16) Now when the men of her city heard her voice, they hurried down to the gate of their city and they called the elders of the city.

(19) Then she said to them with a loud voice, (20) "Praise, praise God, praise God, I say, for God has destroyed our enemies by my hands this night." (21) She took the head out of the bag and said to them, (22) "Behold the head of Holofernes, the chief of the Assyrian army, and the canopy where he lay drunk; God struck him down by the hand of a woman.

(24) Then all the people were wonderfully astonished, (25) and said with one accord, "Blessed are you, O God, who has confounded your people's enemies today!" (26) Then Uzziah said to her, "O daughter, blessed are you of the most high God above all the women upon the earth;

Women are obligated to light Chanukah 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 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 Chanukah.