Yehudit

Since they were also part of the same miracle. Rashbam explained, that the primary part of the miracle was done by them; Purim - by the hand of Esther, Chanukah - by the hand of Judith, Pesach - for they were saved in the merit of the righteous ones of that generation.

Women are obligated to light Hanukkah 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, as the story goes, 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 Hanukkah.

And it came to pass in the twelfth year of King Nebuchadnezzar...

She also had a graceful temperament and was very beautiful to behold. And her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver, and menservants and maidservants, and cattle and lands, and she remained with them. And there was no one who spoke an ill word about her, for she feared God greatly.

(8) Now she heard the evil words of the people against the governor and that they fainted for lack of water;

(9) for Judith had heard all the words that Uzziah had spoken to them and that he had sworn to deliver the city to the Assyrians after five days.

(10) So then she sent her woman servant, who was in charge of everything that she had, to call Uzziah and Chabris and Charmis, the elders of the city.

(11) And they came to her, and she said to them, "Hear me now, you governors of the inhabitants of Bethulia; for your words which you spoke before the people this day are not right, concerning this oath which you made and pronounced between God and yourselves, and your promise to deliver the city to our enemies, unless within these days the Lord turns to help you.[...]"

(26) Then Uzziah said to her, "[...]

(29) Now therefore pray for us, because you are a godly woman, and then the Lord will send us rain to fill our cisterns and we will faint no more."

(30) Then Judith said to them, "Listen to me and I will do something which will be remembered throughout all generations among the children of our nation.

(31) You will watch this night at the gate, and I will go forth with my woman servant; and, within the days that you have promised to deliver the city to our enemies, the Lord will visit Israel by my hand.

(32) But do not ask me what I will do, for I will not reveal it to you until the things that I do are completed."

Judith fell upon her face and put ashes on her head and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing; and, about the time that the incense of that evening was offered in Jerusalem in the house of the Lord, Judith cried with a loud voice, and said,

O Lord God of my father Simeon, 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.

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 and the lords upon their thrones; and you have given their wives for a prey and their daughters to be captives and all their spoils to be divided among your dear children, who were moved with your zeal and abhorred the pollution of their blood and called upon you for aid.

O God, my God, hear me also for I am a widow.

And you have wrought not only those things, but also the things which happened before and which followed afterwards; you have thought about the things which are now and which are to come.

Yes, the things you established were ready at hand, and they said, 'Lo, we are here,' for all your ways are prepared and your judgments are in your foreknowledge.

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; they trust in shield and spear and bow and sling; and they do not know that you are the Lord who breaks the battles: the Lord is your name.

Throw down their strength in your power and bring down their force in your wrath; for they have resolved to defile your sanctuary and to pollute the tabernacle where your glorious name rests and to cast down with sword the horn of your altar.

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.

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.

For your power is not found in numbers, nor your might in strong men; 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.

I pray to you, I beg you, O God of my father and God of the inheritance of Israel, Lord of the heavens and the earth, Creator of the waters, King of every creature, hear my prayer; and make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe, who have resolved cruel things against your covenant and your hallowed house, and against the top of Zion and the house of the possession of your children; and so make every nation and tribe acknowledge that you are the God of all power and might, and that there is no other who protects the people of Israel but you.

Now after this, she ceased to cry to the God of Israel, and she completed all these words. She rose where she had fallen down and called her maid; and she went down into the house in which she lived on the sabbath days and on her feast days, and she pulled off the sackcloth which she had on, and put off the garments of her widowhood, and washed her body all over with water, and anointed herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head and put a headdress on it, and put on her garments of gladness, which she used to wear during the life of Manasseh her husband. And she put sandals on her feet, and she put on her bracelets and her chains and her rings and her earrings and all her ornaments, and she decked herself out boldly, to allure the eyes of all men who might see her. Then she gave her maid a bottle of wine and a cruse of oil, and filled a bag with parched grain and lumps of figs and with fine bread; so she folded all these things together and laid them upon her. Thus they went forth to the gate of the city of Bethulia, and they found standing there Uzziah and the elders of the city, Chabris and Charmis. And when they saw her, that her countenance was altered and her apparel was changed, they wondered at her beauty very greatly and said to her, May God, the God of our fathers, give you favor and accomplish your endeavors to the glory of the children of Israel and to the exaltation of Jerusalem. Then they worshipped God.

[Judith to Holofernes] "Now as concerning the matter which Achior spoke about in your council, we have heard his words; for the men of Bethulia saved him, and he declared to them all that he had spoken to you. Therefore, O lord and governor, respect not his word, but store it in your heart, for it is true; for our nation will not be punished, nor can sword prevail against them, unless they sin against their God. And now, so that my lord will not be defeated and frustrated in his purpose, even death has now fallen upon them and their sin has overtaken them, and therefore they will provoke their God to anger whenever they do what is not right to be done. For their food stores fail them and their water supply is scant, and they have decided to lay hands on their cattle, and have resolved to consume all those things which God has forbidden them to eat by his laws. And they are resolved to use up the first fruits and the tenths of wine and oil, which they had sanctified and which are reserved for the priests who serve in Jerusalem before the face of our God, the things it is not lawful for any of the people so much as to touch with their hands. For they have sent an envoy to Jerusalem, because those who dwell there have also done the same, to bring them a license from the senate. Now when they bring them word, they will immediately do it, and they will be given to you to be destroyed the same day. Therefore I, your handmaid, knowing all this, have fled from their presence; and God has sent me to work things with you, things at which all the earth will be astonished, whosoever hears it. For your servant is religious and serves the God of heaven day and night. Therefore, my lord, I will remain with you now, and your servant will go out by night into the valley, and I will pray to God, and he will tell me when they have committed their sins. And I will return and reveal it to you. Then you will go forth with all your army, and there will be none among them who will withstand you.

Now when Judith came in and sat down with Holofernes, his heart was inflamed with her, and his mind was stirred up, and he greatly desired her company; for he had been waiting for sometime to deceive her, even from the day that he had first seen her. Then Holofernes said to her, "Drink now and be merry with us." So Judith said, "I will drink now, my lord, because my life is exalted in me this day more than all the days since I was born." Then she took and ate and drank before him the things which her maid had prepared. And Holofernes took great delight in her, and he drank more wine than he had drunk at any time in one day since he was born.

And Judith was left alone in the tent with Holofernes lying by himself on his bed, for he was filled with wine. Now Judith had commanded her maid to stand outside her bedroom and to wait for her to go forth, as she did daily; for she said she would go forth to her prayers,

So everyone left and no one was left in the bedroom, neither little nor great. Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart: "O Lord God of all power, look at this time upon the works of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. For now is the time to help your inheritance and to execute your purposes for the destruction of the enemies who have risen against us." Then she went to the pillar of the bed, which was at Holofernes' head, and took down his broadsword from there. And she approached his bed, and took hold of the fringes of his head, and said, "O Eternal God of Israel, strengthen me, please, yet bolster me, at this time." And she twice struck his neck with all her might, and she took his head away from him. And she tumbled his body down from the bed, and pulled down the canopy from the pillars; and, soon after, she went out and gave the head of Holofernes to her maid. And she put it in her bag of meat, so these two went together, according to their custom, to prayer; and when they passed the camp, they circled the valley and went up the mountain of Bethulia and came to its gates.

So she took the head out of the bag and showed it and said to them, "Behold the head of Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, and behold the canopy where he had lain in his drunkenness; and the Lord has struck him by the hand of a woman."

And she took branches in her hand and gave some also to the women who were with her. And they put a garland of olive upon her and on her maid who was with her; and she went before all the people in the dance, leading all the women; and all the men of Israel followed in their amour with garlands, and with songs in their mouths. Then Judith began to sing this thanksgiving for all Israel, and all the people sang after her this song of praise. And Judith said,

"Begin to my God with timbrels; sing to my Lord with cymbals; tune to him a new psalm; exalt him and call upon his name. For God breaks the battles. For among the camps, in the midst of the people, he has delivered me out of the hands of those who persecuted me. Assur came out of the mountains from the north, he came with ten thousands of his army, their great number stopped the torrents and their horsemen covered the hills. He bragged that he would burn up my borders, and kill my young men with the sword, and dash the infants against the ground, and make my young children as a prey, and my virgins as a spoil. But the Almighty Lord has disappointed them by the hand of a woman. For the mighty one did not fall by the young men, neither did the sons of the Titans strike him, nor did lofty giants set upon him; but Judith the daughter of Merari weakened him with the beauty of her countenance. For she put off the garment of her widowhood, for the exaltation of those who were oppressed in Israel, and anointed her face with ointment, and bound her hair in a headdress, and put on a linen garment, to deceive him. Her sandals ravished his eyes; her beauty took his mind prisoner; and the broadsword passed through his neck. The Persians quaked at her boldness; and the Medes were daunted by her hardiness. Then my afflicted shouted for joy and my weak ones cried aloud. But they were astonished; these lifted up their voices, but they were overthrown. The sons of the gentlewomen have pierced them through and wounded them as fugitives' children; they perished by the battle of the Lord. I will sing to the Lord a new song. O Lord, you are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, and invincible. Let all creatures serve you. For you spoke and they were made; you sent forth your spirit and it created them; and there is none who can resist your voice. For the mountains will be moved from their foundations with the waters; the rocks will melt like wax at your presence. Yet you are merciful to those who fear you. For all sacrifice is too little to be a sweet fragrance for you and all the fat is not sufficient for your burnt offering, but he who fears the Lord is great at all times. Woe to the nations who rise up against my kindred! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance upon them on the Day of Judgment by putting fire and worms in their flesh; and they will feel them and will weep for ever."