How Judith Became the Hanukkah Heroine

When we think of Hanukkah, traditions like lighting a menorah, playing dreidel and eating foods cooked in oil might come to mind. But there’s more to the eight-day Festival of Lights. At its core, Hanukkah “commemorates freedom from oppression and the success of the few over the many,” says Maya Locker, director of programs and events at the Museum at Eldridge Street in New York City. The story of the Maccabees illustrates this well: The outnumbered Jewish father and brothers led a successful revolt against the Syrian-Greek ruling class, who had been suppressing the Jewish religion.

But there’s another lesser-known Hanukkah tale that exemplifies the theme of freedom from oppression. “[It’s a] once-lost story of a lone Jewish woman who defeated another mighty would-be conqueror,” Locker says. Her name was Judith.

Judith is the titular heroine of the Book of Judith, which was originally written sometime between 250 and 50 B.C. but isn’t part of the Jewish bible. “Her story is not in the traditional canon or scripture, although details of her story are found in the Apocrypha—considered an external text that does not carry spiritual or legal weight,” says Rabbi Rachel “Bluth” Rosenbluth, an educator based in Toronto. Later medieval sources, especially the interpretive texts called midrashim, provide similar but somewhat diverging stories.

“Judith, or Yehudit in Hebrew, is a woman whose story echoes in the Jewish tradition as a legendary character with a particular and powerful lore,” Bluth says. She symbolizes courage under oppression and women’s ability to influence history.

Generally speaking, Judith “is portrayed as a widow with firm inner resolve and a deep connection to her faith,” says Rabbi David Amar of New Jersey’s Rumson Jewish Center at Congregation B’nai Israel. She witnessed a brutal siege under the Syrian-Greek general Holofernes. “The city of Jerusalem was slowly starving, and no one could break through the walls,” Locker explains. Judith also learned of a Greek officer’s custom to sexually violate Jewish brides before their wedding night, Bluth says.

“Using her wits, beauty and faith, Judith boldly approached the general’s camp, feigning allyship,” Locker says. Holofernes invites Judith in and is wooed by her offers of salty cheese and copious wine. Once he was intoxicated, she decapitated the general using his own sword and takes his head as a trophy to show her people. Judith’s bravery led to the defeat of Holorernes’ army and introduced peace in Judea, the ancient land of Israel. The community is said to have lived in harmony for the rest of Judith’s long life (she died at age 95).

Powerful as Judith’s story is, there’s little historical evidence to confirm it. “When historians try to fit Judith into real history, nothing lines up,” Amar says. “The Book [of Judith] names Nebuchadnezzar as king of Assyria, which we know is inaccurate.” In reality, Nebuchadnezzar was a Babylonian ruler. Elsewhere, the story incorporates details from different time periods, which calls the chronology and duration of events into question.

Additionally, Judith does not appear in the Dead Sea Scrolls or other early Jewish texts. “That makes it clear that her story was not widely used in Jewish teaching for many centuries,” Amar says.

Among Jews, the story of Judith is neither a precise historical account nor a canonized holy text, Bluth explains. “It is rather understood to be part of a religious communal narrative,” she says, that likely blends historical fact with spiritual mythology to illustrate the power of women.

That the rabbis who canonized the Jewish bible chose not to include Judith is also telling. “[This] isn’t to say that everyone agrees the rest of the Jewish bible is automatically historical, but if even the rabbis didn’t think Judith should make the cut, it is more likely to have been seen as a work of fiction, even back then,” explains Rabbi Harry Pell, associate head of The Leffell School in New York.

Even though there’s no record of Judith in the original Jewish bible, she began to pop up in medieval Jewish texts, in which “she is cast firmly in the time period of the Maccabees and the Hanukkah story,” Pell says. Her introduction might have been the result of translating the Book of Judith from Christian versions into newer Hebrew editions. The similarities between Judith and the Maccabees laid the foundation for her association with Hanukkah.

Jewish legal scholars then cemented the story of Judith to Hanukkah’s customs in the 12th to 16th centuries. They used the story to explain why women, who were usually excluded from certain holiday customs, are particularly obligated to light the Hanukkah candles. “They, too, were part of the miracle,” according to rabbinical commentaries. “This is an example whereby women are included as key participants in salvation and redemption and even agents of deliverance,” Bluth says.

Judith’s story also inspired a Hanukkah tradition. Some people eat cheese during the holiday as a nod to the salty cheese Judith fed Holofernes the night she beheaded him. The heroine has also served as a decorative muse. “Some older Hanukkah lamps even depict Judith holding Holofernes’ head, suggesting that some Jewish communities incorporated her story into their Hanukkah celebrations,” Amar says.