Hanukkah is a time of miracles. In lighting the menorah each night, we are reminded that bringing more light into the world is a type of miracle in and of itself. It’s a reminder that darkness doesn’t have to prevail; that light can make a difference. There’s the miracle described in the Talmud about the light lasting 8 days when it shouldn’t have. And there’s the miracle in the Book of Maccabees about the military victory of the Jews over the Greeks.
There’s another, lesser-known, miracle that involved a Hanukkah heroine named Judith. The story goes that Judith, the daughter of Yochanan the High Priest, decided to take matters into her own hands. Their enemies had been stationed outside of Judea, blocking food and supplies from getting to the city, and as their hold on the city got stronger, it didn’t look good for the Jews. They were ready to surrender, but Judith wouldn’t have it. She brought one of her handmaids with her into the camp of an enemy general, Holofernes, and seduced him. She fed him salty cheese and lots of wine, and when he passed out, she grabbed his sword and cut off his head.
As Judith and her handmaid brought Holofernes’s head back into their Jewish city with pride, the enemies on the other side were in a total panic when they found their leader beheaded. Vulnerable and thrown into disarray without their general, the Jews were then able to attack, and the siege on the Jews ended. They are finally able to freely express their Judaism and live without persecution. And for many years, Jews have eaten salty cheese to commemorate the bold actions taken by Judith.
Nevermind that the story is apocryphal and that scholars date its writing to years before the Hanukkah story happened, the story of Judith has been told for thousands of years as a Hanukkah story. It resonated for so many because it’s a story of complete bravery and standing up for what you believe in. (Don’t worry so much about the violence, remember, it’s apocryphal.) It’s a story of not giving up and not giving in when there are those that don’t like what you stand for.
To be honest, fried cheese sounds delicious to me. So maybe I’ll use it as a good excuse to remember the bravery of Judith, a woman whose story we so rarely hear. I’ll use it to remember what it means for us to think creatively to make bold change, and I’ll eat it to remember that it is worth standing up for who we are. Taking these actions, too, is a miracle. Being brave and courageous and boldly embracing who we are is another kind of light we need to bring into the world.
May this Hanukkah season be one of miracles big and small, of bright light in the darkness.
