יהודית פרק יג
(א) ויהי באישון לילה, ויפנו עבדיו איש איש לאוהלו ולחדר משכבו. (ב) כי עייפים היו מרוב המשתה, ובגוא סגר את הדלת מאחריו ויצא. (ג) ותישאר יהודית לבדה באוהל עם הלופרנש, והוא שכור מיין, וייפול על מיטתו ויירדם. (ד) ותאמר אל אמתה, שבי לך פה מחוץ לאוהל עד בואי אליך לצאת ולהתפלל כאשר הסכנתי לעשות. (ה) וגם לבגוא אמרה, כי תצא גם הלילה. (ו) ויהי כי יצאו כולם, ולא נשאר איש באוהל למקטון ועד גדול, ותיגש אל המיטה אשר הוא שכב עליה, ותתפלל בלבה ותאמר:
(ז) אל אלוקים, אשר בידך הכוח והגבורה, הבט נא וראה את מעשה ידי שפחתך להרים קרן ירושלים. (ח) הנה קרבה עת פדות עם נחלתך, כי תושיעני ימינך לתת נקמה בגוים אשר קמו עלינו.
(ט) ותיגש אל העמוד אשר בראש המיטה, ותיקח את חרב הלופרנש מעליו (י) ותשלח את ידה ותיקחהו בציצית ראשו, ותאמר: ה׳ אלוקים, חזקני נא ואמצני אך הפעם. (יא) ותך בחוזקה פעמים על צווארו, ותכרות את ראשו, ותָגָל נבלתו מעל המיטה. ותיקח היריעה מעל העמוד ותצא. (יב) ותיתן את ראש הלופרנש לאמתה, ותצווה לתתו אל השק. (יג) ותצאן שתיהן מן המחנה כדרכן לצאת להתפלל. ותעבורנה את הערבה, ותעלינה ההרה, ותבאנה לפני שערי בתול. (יד) ותקרא יהודית מרחוק אל שומרי השער לאמור:
פתחו לי את השער כי ה׳ אלוקינו אתנו להראות לישראל את ידו, ולצריו את זרועו, כאשר החל לעשת ביום הזה.
(כא) ותיקח את ראש הלופרנש מן השק ותראהו את העם ותאמר.
(כב) הנה זה ראש הלופרנש, שר צבא אשור, וזאת היריעה אשר שכב אחריה, והוא שכור, וביד אישה הרגו אלוהים. (כג) חי ה׳ אשר הצליח דרכי, כי רק במראי הטיתי את לבבו, וידו לא נגעה בי לרעה.
(כו) ועוזיה אמר אל יהודית:
ברוכה את בתי לה׳ אל עליון, וברוך טעמך מכל בנות הארץ. (כז) ברוך ה׳ אלוקים עושה שמים וארץ, אשר ידו הייתה אתך לכרות ראש שונאנו. (כח) לא ישכח חסדך לנצח מלבב כל המהללים חסדי ה׳. (כט) וה׳ יזכור אותך לטובה, כי בנפשך פדית את עמו מיד מבקשי נפשם, ולבבך תמים עם ה׳.
(ל) ויאמר כל העם אמן ואמן.
Judith 13
1 Now when the evening was come, his servants made haste to depart, and Bagoas shut his tent without, and dismissed the waiters from the presence of his lord; and they went to their beds: for they were all weary, because the feast had been long.
2 And Judith was left along in the tent, and Holofernes lying along upon his bed: for he was filled with wine.
3 Now Judith had commanded her maid to stand without her bedchamber, and to wait for her. coming forth, as she did daily: for she said she would go forth to her prayers, and she spake to Bagoas according to the same purpose.
4 So all went forth and none was left in the bedchamber, neither little nor great. Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart, O Lord God of all power, look at this present upon the works of mine hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem.
5 For now is the time to help thine inheritance, and to execute thine enterprizes to the destruction of the enemies which are risen against us.
6 Then she came to the pillar of the bed, which was at Holofernes' head, and took down his fauchion from thence,
7 And approached to his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day.
8 And she smote twice upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him.
9 And tumbled his body down from the bed, and pulled down the canopy from the pillars; and anon after she went forth, and gave Holofernes his head to her maid;
10 And she put it in her bag of meat: so they twain went together according to their custom unto prayer: and when they passed the camp, they compassed the valley, and went up the mountain of Bethulia, and came to the gates thereof.
11 Then said Judith afar off, to the watchmen at the gate, Open, open now the gate: God, even our God, is with us, to shew his power yet in Jerusalem, and his forces against the enemy, as he hath even done this day.
...
15 So she took the head out of the bag, and shewed it, and said unto them, behold the head of Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, and behold the canopy, wherein he did lie in his drunkenness; and the Lord hath smitten him by the hand of a woman.
16 As the Lord liveth, who hath kept me in my way that I went, my countenance hath deceived him to his destruction, and yet hath he not committed sin with me, to defile and shame me.
17 Then all the people were wonderfully astonished, and bowed themselves and worshipped God, and said with one accord, Blessed be thou, O our God, which hast this day brought to nought the enemies of thy people.
18 Then said Ozias unto her, O daughter, blessed art thou of the most high God above all the women upon the earth; and blessed be the Lord God, which hath created the heavens and the earth, which hath directed thee to the cutting off of the head of the chief of our enemies.
19 For this thy confidence shall not depart from the heart of men, which remember the power of God for ever.
20 And God turn these things to thee for a perpetual praise, to visit thee in good things because thou hast not spared thy life for the affliction of our nation, but hast revenged our ruin, walking a straight way before our God. And all the people said; So be it, so be it.
ואמר רב כל ההולך בעצת אשתו נופל בגיהנם שנאמר (מלכים א כא, כה) רק לא היה כאחאב
And Rav says: Nevertheless, anyone who follows the counsel of his wife descends into Gehenna, as it is stated: “But there was none like Ahab, who did give himself over to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife incited” (I Kings 21:25).
רבא אמר זונות ממש אחאב איש מצונן היה ועשתה לו איזבל שתי צורי זונות במרכבתו כדי שיראה אותן ויתחמם
(ב) שפרה. זו יוכבד על שם שמשפרת את הולד:
(ג) פועה. זו מרים שפועה ומדברת והוגה לולד כדרך הנשים המפיסות תינוק הבוכה. (ד) "פועה" - לשון צעקה כמו (ישעיהו מב יד): "כיולדה אפעה".
Shiphrah, This is Yocheved, she is given this second name, because she makes better the birthing process.
Puah. This is Miriam. She is called Puah because she speaks and sings to the baby like a woman who makes the crying baby feel better...Puah meaning one who cries out.
(טו) למילדות. רב ושמואל ח"א אשה ובתה יוכבד ומרים וח"א כלה וחמותה. יוכבד ואלישבע: ד"א למילדת חסר וי"ו למד שלא היתה כי אם מילדת אחת והיינו יוכבד אבל מרים נערה היתה ולא היתה מילדת אלא פועה לילד ולכך אמרו חז"ל פועה זו מרים מהרב משה כהן. ד"א שפועה לילד בבטן וקוראה לו צא והוא יוצא:
(15) למילדת “to the midwife;” there is a disagreement in the Talmud regarding the identity of these two women. According to one opinion they were Yocheved and her daughter Miriam. According to the second opinion, they were mother-in- law Yocheved, and her daughter-in-law. Elisheva, wife of Aaron. (Talmud Sotah, folio 11) An alternate interpretation: this interpretation takes its cue from the fact that the Torah spelled the word מילדת in the singular mode instead of with the letter ו, seeing that there were two women. According to the spelling there was only a single midwife, Yocheved. Miriam was a teenager not capable yet of acting as a midwife, rather she acted as a bleater, to help the infant cry while still inside its mother’s womb encouraging it to emerge from the womb as fast as possible.
(שמות א, טו) ויאמר מלך מצרים למילדות העבריות וגו' רב ושמואל חד אמר אשה ובתה וחד אמר כלה וחמותה מ"ד אשה ובתה יוכבד ומרים ומ"ד כלה וחמותה יוכבד ואלישבע תניא כמ"ד אשה ובתה דתניא שפרה זו יוכבד ולמה נקרא שמה שפרה שמשפרת את הולד ד"א שפרה שפרו ורבו ישראל בימיה פועה זו מרים ולמה נקרא שמה פועה שהיתה פועה (ומוציאה את הולד) ד"א פועה שהיתה פועה ברוח הקודש ואומרת עתידה אמי שתלד בן שמושיע את ישראל
And the king of Egypt said to the Jewish midwives... Rav and Shmuel - one said it was a woman and her daughter and the other said that it was a mother and her daughter in law. The one who said woman and her daughter it is referring to Yocheved and Miriam the one who said woman and her daughter in law is referring to Yocheved and Elisheva. There is a baraita that supports this perspective because there is a baraita that says Shifra is Yocheved. And why is she called Shifra - because she beautified the newborn infant. Another reason, is that Bnei Yisrael were fruitful and multiplied in her time. Puah is Miriam and why is she called Puah because she cried and talked and cooed to the newborn infant in the manner of women who soother a crying infant. Another reason, Puah because she spoke with Ruach Hakodesh and she said in the future my mother will give birth to a son that will save the Jewish people.
"The angels who are in charge of healing are Sanoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof. While God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone' (Genesis 2:18). He also created a woman, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another.
When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels to bring her back."Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day.'
The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.'"'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.' "When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: 'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant.'
She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels names on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child recovers."
(43) The Divine resolution to bestow a companion on Adam met the wishes of man, who had been overcome by a feeling of isolation when the animals came to him in pairs to be named. To banish his loneliness, Lilith was first given to Adam as wife. Like him she had been created out of the dust of the ground. But she remained with him only a short time, because she insisted upon enjoying full equality with her husband. She derived her rights from their identical origin. With the help of the Ineffable Name, which she pronounced, Lilith flew away from Adam, and vanished in the air. Adam complained before God that the wife He had given him had deserted him, and God sent forth three angels to capture her. They found her in the Red Sea, and they sought to make her go back with the threat that, unless she went, she would lose a hundred of her demon children daily by death. But Lilith preferred this punishment to living with Adam. She takes her revenge by injuring babes--baby boys during the first night of their life, while baby girls are exposed to her wicked designs until they are twenty. days old The only way to ward off the evil is to attach an amulet bearing the names of her three angel captors to the children, for such had been the agreement between them.
(שם, ט) גם ושתי המלכה עשתה משתה נשים בית המלכות בית הנשים מיבעי ליה אמר רבא שניהן לדבר עבירה נתכוונו היינו דאמרי אינשי איהו בקרי ואתתיה בבוציני
The verse states: “Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women, in the royal house, which belonged to King Ahasuerus” (Esther 1:9). The Gemara questions why she held the feast in the royal house, a place of men, rather than in the women’s house, where it should have been. Rava said in response: The two of them had sinful intentions. Ahasuerus wished to fornicate with the women, and Vashti wished to fornicate with the men. This explains the folk saying that people say: He with pumpkins and his wife with zucchinis, indicating that often a man and his wife engage in similar actions.
(יד) וַתְּמָאֵן הַמַּלְכָּה וַשְׁתִּי (אסתר א, יב), שָׁלְחָה וְאָמְרָה לוֹ דְּבָרִים שֶׁהֵן נוֹגְעִין בְּלִבּוֹ, אָמְרָה לוֹ אִם רוֹאִין אוֹתִי נָאָה, הֵן נוֹתְנִין עֵינֵיהֶם לְהִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ בִּי וְהוֹרְגִים אוֹתְךָ, וְאִם רוֹאִין אוֹתִי כְּעוּרָה, אַתְּ מִתְגַּנֶּה בִּי.
(14) But Queen Vashti refused: She sent and said to him words that touched his heart. She said to him: If they see that I am fair, they will try to make use of me and kill you. But if they see that I am ugly, you will be denigrated through me.
(1) For the affair of the queen will extend to all women. That she showed contempt for the king, [this will cause] all the women to show contempt for their husbands as well.