- Q. Estimado Rabino. What is the source in our Bible for Chanuka?
A. There is no open source in the Five Books of the Torah, yet it is told in The Book of Yehudis . (A Sefer not considered part of the 24 Books of our Bible, as also the Book of Maccabees containing the Chanukah story— both include Yehudis —the daughter of Yohanan the Kohen Gadol, and brother therefore of Matityahu mentioned in our Al HaNisim prayer on the holiday.
She was a daring and attractive widow, who was upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting G-d to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, to whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites.
Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night and feeds him salty cheese. To quench his thirst she caters him with wine, and as he lies in a drunken stupor, she decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman Horav, Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a
Important Numbers
