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What do we celebrate on Hanukkah? After quickly mentioning the miraculous jar of temple oil that burned for eight days, many sources will tell you it’s about the unlikely triumph of the Maccabees, who fought for Jewish religious freedom in the face of persecution by the Assyrians (Syrian Greeks) who then ruled the land of Judah. At the center of the holiday is the menorah, an eight-branched candelabra we light each night, adding one candle per day, until on the eighth and final night it’s ablaze in its full glory. But if you take a look at a collection of old-fashioned Italian and German menorahs, you’ll find a different figure again and again who goes unmentioned in the standard story: a lone woman, triumphantly raising a knife.
This is Judith, a much earlier heroine, and the OG Jewish badass lady who was once commonly celebrated at Ha.