The Role of Women in the Chanukah Story | Dr. Deborah Polster | December 10th 2025

First of all, ladies and gentlemen, those of you who have sat through four or five shaurim this morning, it's amazing. I promise you something a little bit lighter. So >> your microphone, >> as many of you know, >> the course I'm teaching this year examines Jews in the period of the Middle Ages. When Rabbi Shore called and asked me to give a short share on Kaneka, it was my challenge to combine the two Kaneka in the Middle Ages. My longtime rabbi and close friend, Rabbi Schubert Spiroadim Adme taught me many many years ago that you can always combine different topics. So here goes. The observance of Kaneka was instituted in the year 165 before the common era by Yehuda Hammakabe the Cohen Gudal along with Rabbi Yoshua Ben Parakia and Nitiharabel who together led the Sanhedrin. It memorialized the successful conclusion of a three-year war against the Syrians which culminated in the rededication the Hanukkabite of the temple in Jerusalem. It was celebrated for 8 days, memorializing the oil that lasted for 8 days. And yet, the first mention of Kaneka in the Gamarra was not until the sixth century when the Gamarra was actually put together. But it was not until medieval times that Kaneka became a popular festival. It was then said that even he who draws sustenance from charity should borrow or sell his cloak to purchase oil and lamps and kindle. Special foods like cheese and pancakes were eaten during holiday feasts. Gifts of money were exchanged. Children would play with drreidles and adult men would play with cards. While earlier texts reveal little information about this festival, by the medieval period, more literature emerged such as um the scroll of antio which was modeled on migilada and this provided us with new legends and new details about the event. This included the tradition of the Khaneka minora which involves lighting as we know eight lights one for each night. Many medieval examples of the manora of the minora have been preserved. Unfortunately, in our day, often even in justest and particularly outside of Erit Israel, commercialism and consumerism have turned Kaneka into a shadow holiday of its Christian kundrical cousin, Christmas. In medieval Europe, however, this was not so. Kaneka was rabbitically ordained a minor holiday then as now. but a minor holiday that needed to be celebrated. Its model partner for how was no Christian feast but a perennial Jewish favorite Purim. Purim of course is a festival celebrating the victory of Esther and Mori over the evil Hammon recounted in the book of Esther. Kaneka similarly celebrates an event described in one of the books of Mcabes. But that's not how medieval Jews saw it. Instead, they partnered Kaneka with the story of Yehudit. Esther's bravery helped thwart Hemon's plan to destroy the Jews. Yehudit snuck [snorts] into Holof Fermis' tent and hacked off his head with a sword. There was a certain symmetry to the medieval Jewish mind apparently that wanted to balance Esther with Yehudit and Porum with a Yehudit holiday, a Judith holiday. And the chosen candidate was Kaneka. But the biblical element of the two stories propagated in texts like the McGill Yehudit, also known as the Judas scroll, must not cover up the facts of celebrating those stories. Porum, you might recall, is the festival where some rabbis hand out booze in the streets. Drinking and eating for joy and pleasure, it becomes a religious obligation. We are enjoying to drink until we don't know the difference between Aur Haman and Baroo Modai at least figuratively. So too we find this as a central component in celebrating the medieval Hanukkah. [clears throat] A holiday centered on food and fasting was a holiday predicated on food preparation. So while Poram and Kaneka in the Middle Ages already focused attention on two stellar women of Jewish history, Esther and Yehudit, the mode of celebration centered on the efforts of the contemporary Jewish woman as well. We've all learned that women are obligated to certain mitzvotes because they too were part of the miracle. The most familiar of these mitzvot is the obligation of women to hear the migila on porum, right? Because the role of of Queen Esther that she played in saving [snorts] the Jewish people. Rashi in discussing Kaneka candles in Gamarra Shabbat cites Rabbi Yoshua Ben Levy who said women are obligated concerning Kaneka. They too were part of the miracle. I'd like to explore for a minute the who and the what of this statement. Does this ruling aim signify that women have an obligation to thank Boraku and light Kaneka candles because they're part of the Jewish Kila? They were part of the larger Jewish community and that therefore in the same way that men have an obligation to publicize the miracles of Kaneka, so too do women. And yet Rashi understands this gamarra to mean that not only were women redeemed along with the men but they too were actively involved in the miracle that women played a specific role in bringing it about. So what exactly did women or for that matter one woman even one particular woman actually do? It appears that Rashi was alluding to the story of Yehudit, a young Jewish woman who was required to spend the night before her wedding with a Greek general, but he to she took the opportunity to assassinate him. However, it's difficult to find a source, an ancient source for the story of Yehudit. For that matter, there is not even a precise sto source that tells us that Jewish women on the eve of their wedding were required to sleep with uh Greek generals. We actually don't have a specific source for that. Although both the Bavi and the Yurusi in Kuvot do site a similar law they appear to be referring to a decree enacted following the Barco revolt which took place many years after the time of Mati Yahu. Unfortunately, unlike the story of Yael and Cisra, which is detailed in Safer Chaftim, the story of Yehudit has many different versions. Here it goes. The Kobo, which was written in the 13th or 14th century. It's an early collection. The Coobo is an early collection of Jewish and civil laws whose author is really not ascertained. We don't exactly know who wrote it. It quotes an Agada in relating the story of Yehudit. In the Kobo, Yohanan, who was the Cohen Gad, had a daughter who was extremely beautiful, and the Greek king wanted to sleep with her. She fed him a cheese dish so that he would become thirsty, he would drink, he would become inebriated and fall asleep. While he lay asleep, she took his sword, cut off his head, and brought it to Jerusalem. And when the Greek army saw that their leader was dead, they fled. In light of this cobo, the rema is rules in orim that one should eat cheese on Kaneka since the miracle came about through milk and cheese that Yehudit fed to the enemy. In addition to this kbo, the rema cites other slightly different versions um in in sources including that of Raben Nissim who is known as Arana. In this similar but slightly different version, Yehudi is still the beautiful daughter of Yohan the Cohen Gadal with whom the king wants to sleep. But we don't understand in this version that she's about to be married. She does feed the king cheese and after she falls he falls asleep she decapitates him. There are numerous other authorities that mention the story of Yehudit as the reason why women are required to light the Kaneka candles. Moreover, Yehudit has mentioned Tosapote in the name of Rashbam and many others. However, none of these sources mention that she was the daughter of the Cohen Gadal, nor that she gave the Greek leader milk or cheese. Their only concern is using Yehudit as proof that somehow women participated in the miracle. Later, Midrashim provide different accounts of the story of Yehudit. One of the most interesting is found in Ozar Hamidashim and this version goes as follows. Our sages taught that during the period of the evil Greek kingdom, the Creeks decree, the Greeks, pardon me, decreed that every bride should be brought first to the local commanding officer before being permitted to her husband. The situation continued for 3 years and 8 months until the daughter of Yohanan, the Cohen Guttle, was to be married. When her brothers, her brothers, mind you, sought to lead her to the Greek officer, she buried her head, tore her garments, and stood naked before the group. Yehuda and his brothers were outraged, and they said, "Take her out and burn her. Don't let the authorities be informed about this. We will face mortal danger. For she dared to bear herself before us all. She responded and she said, "How is that that you are so zealous concerning my shame before my brothers and relatives while you are prepared to totally betray me and take me to the defiled, uncircumcised Greek officer and lie with him? And so her brothers when they heard this conspired to kill the Greek officer. They dressed the girl in royal garments and made a myrtle canopy that stretched from the house of the Kashman to the house of the Greek officer. Musicians came. They played. They danced until they reached the house of the officer. When the officer heard them dancing and singing, he bragged to his ministers and his servants. Look at them. They are the most esteemed of Israel. They are in fact the progeny of our own. And just look how happy they are to perform my my will. They are deserving of great honor. He commanded his ministers and his servants to invite Yehuda and his companions to his home. Together with his sister Yehudi together with his sister Yehuda and his com um cohorts entered the home of the officer, decapitated him, plundered all that he had, and killed his ministers and servants. But when the king of the Greeks heard that the Jews had killed his officer, he placed Jerusalem under siege, which caused fear among the Jews. But there was a widow. And this widow was named Yehudit. And she took her maid servants and went to visit the king. He asked her, "Lady, what do you think? What do you want?" She answered, "My master, I am the daughter of a noble family in Israel. My brothers are prophets, and I heard them predicting that tomorrow Jerusalem will fall by your hand." Obviously, these words gladdened the heart of the king. He believed Yehudit. He loved her. And he asked for her hand in marriage. She responded, "My master, the king, I am not worthy of even one of your servants. But if your heart desires it, make a proclamation throughout the camp that anyone who sees two women walking to the spring should not harm them because I must go there to bathe and to immerse myself in preparation for our marriage." The proclamation was immediately issued and the king prepared a great banquet. Everyone drank. Everyone became inebriated. Then each went back to his own tent. And the king remained with Yehudit and inebriated he slept. Yehudit then took his sword, decapitated him, and spread a sheet over him. She took the king's head to the gates of Jerusalem and called out, "Open the gates. God has performed a miracle through me." They replied, "Is it not enough that you have prostituted yourself?" Because they assumed that she had gone through. Her brothers had brought her to the king. "Now you seek to also mock us." Then she showed them the king's head. They opened the gates. They emerged and they shouted Schnema Israel Hashem Hashem. But note that in this version there are two separate women. The first is an unnamed daughter right of the Cohen guttle who was about to be married and the second woman is a widow named Yehudit. There are also two capit decapitations. We have the first, the general is beheaded by the brothers and and the king is beheaded by Yehudit. And just in case you're wondering, in this version, we have no mention of cheese. Okay. The most detailed source for the story of Yehudi is to be found in the book of Judas, a book of Apocrypha called in Hebrewim. Apocrypha refers to writings probably authored by Jews but not included when the Ankessa tagdullah cottified the Tanakh. This version recounts the story of how Navu Khanzer sent his general Holy Furnace to attack Israel and how Yehudit, a pious and Jewish widow who was beautiful, [clears throat] saved her town. Using her beauty and her cunning, she ingratiated herself with holy furnace and then managed to behead him with his own sword after he fell into a drunken slumber at a party. >> Taking the suffered head with her, Yehudit inspired the Jews and demoralized the enemy, leading to a Jewish victory. However, in the book of Judith, this Yehudit is identified not as a daughter of the Cohen, but as a daughter of Merari and the widow of Manahim from the tribe of Shimon, not the tribe of Lady. Here again, we have a widow that she's not the daughter of the Coengod. She's not about to be married. Nonetheless, she does behead Holofernis. Unfortunately, this story has no obvious connection to Kaneka or to the Greeks because it describes the enemies of the Jews as the Assyrians from an earlier period. Moreover, for many, the book of Judith is generally considered to be a historical drama or at best a fictionalized account of a historical event filled with literary artistry. The book of the Judith cannot be the source of the rema is is missing some key elements. The most prominent being that the enemies in the book of the Judas are not Greeks. While some versions of the book of Judith have her bringing cheese as part of her own personal food supply, in no version is she reported to have actually fed holy furnace milk or cheese. Furthermore, while the book of Judas does include the character of the high priest, his name is Yawakim in some versions Eli and is a minor character and not related at all to Yehudit. Nonetheless, popular tradition locates the story of Yehudit during the Henistic period and connects it with Kaneka. Even though there is no mention of Yehudit in the Talmud, we can identify more than a dozen variants of the story. We can be certainly certain that these stories were known by Arishoni. The central element of the beautiful Jewish woman beheading the en enemy leader appears in all versions, but just about every other plot element varies. For example, in the version recorded by Rabbat Hanagid, the grandson of the Rambam, the woman is not named, but is identified as from the priestly Kashmon family. The villain in this case is a Greek general named Niconor. And the Jewish woman put sleep inducing drugs, when I first did this research, I didn't even know they had them in those days into the wine to knock him out. In order for all elements to be included, the Greek decree on the brides, the cheese, the daughter of Yohan and the Cohen God about to be married, the most probable assumption is there probably is some earlier version of the story of Yehudit decapitating the general that we don't have. And there are many things that are lost to us today. Not surprisingly, the conflated narrative became more widespread after the advent of printing in the 15th century. Rabshaw Oben Davided, who published Kanuka in 1616, see we're really in the middle ages. I'm doing what I told you I would do. Mentions that Yehudit was a sister of Yehuda Hammakabe who has as a bride refused to sleep first with the Greek leader and instead cut off his head thereby inspiring her brother to wage war against the Greeks and that she in this version did give the Greek leader cheese. A little bit of a different twist. The version of the story that is most familiar for to us today is the one found in the 19th century Mishna Burura. There all the elements of the story are included. Yehudit is mentioned as the daughter of Yohanan the Cohen Gut. There was a Greek decree that every engaged woman must first sleep with the governor before she married. and that Yehudi did give cheese to the leader of the enemy to get him to drink, become enamorated, and fall asleep. She cut off his head. The enemy fled. This version of the story of Yehudit has become the most familiar to us in our world, even though it does not mention any of those earlier versions that I have mentioned and that we have in our possession. But excuse me, [snorts] if there is no conclusive historical or chronological connection between the story of Yehudit and the Henistic regime, then what is the meaning of the ruling in the Gamarra that women are obligated concerning Kaneka candles hayuba tohab that they too were part of the miracle? Are we back now concluding that is only it merely means that women were redeemed along with the men part of the kila raviak of maidan who was the roshi shiva yishivarion proposes a completely different interpretation of the gamarra's assertion concerning women's role in the miracle of kaneka he postulates that perhaps the reason women must light khana candles is not because of yehudit but rather because the women of that period struggled to uphold the mitzvah of breek ma as we read in safer hamakabim which was published in the second century before the common era and women who circumcised their sons were put to death by the king the infants were hanged those who were circumcised were slain by the sword their homes were plundered But these women, these sad sit preferred death to defiling their souls and violating God's covenant and therefore they died. It is not clear actually why it was the women who led the rebellion against Greek orders against circumcision. Perhaps the women stood in for their husbands when they were at war. The garan sanhedrin testifies it will resolve by majority vote in the addict of the house of nitsa in lud concerning all transgressions of the Torah if a person is told transgress this or you will be killed he should transgress transgress and not be killed except for the three biggies idolatry sexual immorality and bloodshed. This law was established in detail in the bait midash of Rabanan. It set down rules concerning the commandments for which one is permitted or even obligated to give up one's life and the circumstances in one in which one should do so. It is possible though that these laws were not yet known in detail during this Kashmon period. But as faithful Jews, the women had an intuitive understanding of the need to maintain the existence of AmIrael. We know that even during later periods, Jews did sacrifice their lives for the mitzvah of Bit Milah. Many historians even believe that the decrees against circumcisions were the main impetus for Barulka's rebell rebellion against the Roman Emperor Hadrien some 60 years later after the destruction of the Bay Sheni the second temple. Greek influence had spread among AmIrael especially during the Henistic period. Circumcision remained the principal obstacle for Jewish men marrying non-Jewish women. As such, it served as the most important barrier against assimilation and the um subsequent self-destru self destruction of Amnisrael. We have testimonies dating to this period describing Jews who invested great efforts in trying to conceal the fact that they were circumcised. For example, in hellistic gymnasiums, the youth competed at sports while completely naked, and those who were circumcised were therefore very easily identified. We can therefore understand how s central the struggle over circumcision was to the revolt of the kashmanay. It comes as no surprise that circumcision was one of the first actions taken by Matiahu and his companions upon announcing the rebellion. We read and say for Hamakabim and they circumcised by force the boys who had not yet been circumcised whom they found among the Jews. For obvious reasons, women were at the forefront of this struggle over circumcision. Rav Maidan even offers that perhaps the festival of Kaneka is celebrated for eight days specifically in commemoration of the victory over Brit Ma a struggle which was led by the women. According to Rav Maidan the women who circumcised their sons did not take up weapons did not launch a direct attack on the Greeks. However, their willingness to sacrifice their lives to continue God's covenant seems to have been among the main motivations behind the rebellion whose fight fighters on the battle battlefield were in fact men. The women were therefore an integral part of the rebellion, the victory and the salvation. Thus women are obligated concerning the lighting of foruphanes. They too were actively involved in the miracle. In any case, the trust in God that we learn either from Yehudit or from the righteous women who assured the brea of their sons is not the trust of a person who does nothing and waits for God to do everything. The trust we learn from them is the readiness on the part of someone who trusts and prays to take her life in her hands in order to save her people, the Ezraat Hashem, with God's help.