But, my issue with this holiday, and several others, is the specific omission of the female heroines who make so many Jewish "miracles" possible. I keep saying I'm going to rewrite some of the seders and ceremonies for modern Jews to include these brave women more actively in the remembrance of the holy days.
As I said yesterday, Hanukkah celebrates the miracle that happened in the temple... the temple that needed to be purified... because the Greeks had filled it with their non-kosher habits... because the Jews were able to overcome the Greek army...
...and HOW did they do that? The Greek army was defeated because a courageous, Jewish woman walked into the tent of the Greek commander, Holofernes. She seduced him, and as he fell into a drunken slumber, she sawed off his head. With the commander dead, the Greek army lost all sense of how to fight, making it easier for the Jews to overtake them.
Is this story in the children's books? Of course not. Is it mentioned in the prayers said over the lights of the menorah? No. Do all Jews who celebrate Hanukkah know this story? Again, NO. The Jewish person I know best didn't even know who Judith was until I took a Baroque Art History class.
Obviously the Christian religion is guilty of a similar discrimination. The only women who receive any siginificant recognition are Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene... a female disciple. Is Mary Magdalene included in the 12 apostles? No. They were all men... men who followed Jesus around... But, so did Mary. Shouldn't there have been 13 apostles? I actually think there was one other women as well, so was 14 not a good number?
It's simpler than that. Women do not count.
They do the dirty work, but they are not equal to the men who observed and recorded the miracles after the women saved their lives. It's like Purim. During the acutal services at Temple, you don't hear Esther's name more than once. How is that fair? Esther risked her life to save her people... She walked into the chamber of the king without being summoned. At the time, such an action was punishable by death. However, the king was fond of his wife, and spared her life. Instead, he honored her request to save the Jews from the genocide that the king's advisor had planned (that there would be one day on which all members of the kingdom had to bow down to the king... knowing that the Jews only bowed down to Gd... and the king fell for it).
Admittedly, sex and seduction has always been a spikey subject. In fact, the only times I remember hearing about sex in church were all in reference to the "naughty characters," like the woman who asked for the head of John the Baptist... Potiphar's wife who tried to seduce Joseph (who refused, enraging her, and so she told her husband that he had propositioned her and Potiphar threw Joseph out)... and the less I say about Jezebel the better. However, Jews, in my opinion, have always seemed to have a much healthier perspective on sex than most Christians who see it as taboo, as the method by which we all inherit the original sin committed by (Guess who? A woman, of course!) Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the old marriage contracts, Jewish women were protected in writing concerning how often her "needs" should be met depending on the man's occupation.
So, one may bind sex rules up in the Jewish law and tradition of marriage, but no one speaks for the women who used their wiles to help perpetuate the entire Jewish race? Makes me wonder if men would simply prefer not to have to admit that they're as easy as they are...
Don't misunderstand me - there are a handful of Jewish men that deserve every bit of recognition they receive. I, myself, am a big fan of Daniel, the prophetic boy. But, the problem creeps up again... Manyof you, most likely, do not know that a whole chapter of Daniel was removed after the dawn of the Middle Ages. The 13th Book of Daniel tells the story of Susanna, one of my favorite characters of Medieval Literature. Susanna was a Jewish woman who was very devoted to her husband. She was also beautiful, and other men definitely noticed her. Two elders of the Hebrew circle spied on her as she bathed in her garden unattended and caught her unawares. They threatened her to submit to them (sexually, naturally)... if she refused, they would accuse her of adultery anyway, which would cost her her life. She still refused, telling them that Gd would know the truth of her actions and she would never betray her husband. So, they formally accused her and she was hauled into court. It was Daniel who asked them, "Under what tree in her garden did you see her commit adultery?" Neither of the elders could come up with the actual tree that grew by her bath, and she was proven innocent. I'd say both Daniel and Susanna should get some credit for this shining example faith and conscience. But, unless you have a copy of the Douhay-Rheims Bible or bother to search the internet, you won't find this story in your Bible. Was it because it focused too much on a woman and not enough on the heroics of good old Daniel? Probably.
I was once told by a close Jewish friend, "All Jewish holidays are about the same thing: They tried to kill us. We killed them instead. Let's eat!" While that's a simplification, it's also partially true. It's not like there's any gratitude for the risks and sacrifices of Judith, Esther, or Jael... for the bravery of all the Jewish people, not just the men who waited in the dark for a woman to risk her life so that the men had a clear shot of the enemy.
So, for this Hanukkah season, I'm going to say a few words after the prayers to thank Judith, for having more guts than most men... and for having the strength to cut off a man's head.
(from http://sai.msu.su)
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