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Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings

This is an archive of special readings prepared for the חג הבנות | Ḥag haBanot (عيد البنات | עיד אלבנאת | Eid el Benat), for the days on which Rosh Ḥodesh Tevet coincide with Ḥanukkah.

As Dr. Lori Lefkowitz has written, “On this New Moon…girls are given gifts, sometimes jewelry that would be their inheritance, and special blessings. It is customary to read the story of Judith, and yes, to eat salty cheeses. And one custom that I especially like, girls who were quarreling used the occasion of the festival to kiss and make up.”

Click here to contribute a special reading, prayer, or song that you have prepared for the Ḥag haBanot.

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💬 מדרש לחנוכה | Midrash l’Ḥanukkah, an interwoven miscellany of Ḥanukkah stories

The following is the Midrash l’Ḥanukkah, one of a collection of three midrashim and two megillot containing the details of the story of Ḥanukkah in the Jewish rabbinic tradition. Those already familiar with these other works will quickly recognize portions or summaries of them here albeit with precious additional information added not found anywhere else. . . .

Tags: Angels, colonization, cosmological, Droit du seigneur, Early Middle Ages, חג הבנות Ḥag HaBanot, Needing Vocalization, Seleucid Greek Occupation, sexual predation, sexual violence

Contributor(s): Aliza Arzt, Isabel Bard (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

💬 מַעֲשֶׂה חֲנֻכָּה א׳ | Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah “alef,” a tale of the people’s resistance to the Seleucid Greek occupation

This digital edition of Midrash Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah was transcribed from the print edition published in Otzar Hamidrashim (I. D. Eisenstein, New York: Eisenstein Press, 5675/1915, p.189-190). With much gratitude to Anat Hochberg, this is the first translation of this midrash into English. . . .

Categories: Midrash Aggadah, Ḥanukkah Readings, Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings

Tags: colonization, Droit du seigneur, Early Middle Ages, eating animals, חג הבנות Ḥag HaBanot, Late Antiquity, sexual predation, sexual violence

Contributor(s): Anat Hochberg (translation), Unknown Author(s), Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 מְגִילַּת יְהוּדִית לְאָמְרָהּ בַּחֲנֻכָּה | Megillat Yehudit, the Medieval Scroll of Judith to be said on Ḥanukkah

This is a faithful transcription of the text of the medieval Megillat Yehudith (the Scroll of Judith), not to be confused with the deutero-canonical Book of Judith, authored in Antiquity. We have further set this text side-by-side with the English translation made by Susan Weingarten, and vocalized and cantillated the Hebrew so that it may be chanted. . . .

Categories: Extracanonical Megillot, Ḥanukkah Readings, Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings

Tags: 14th century C.E., 52nd century A.M., anti-predatory, dairy foods, derivative work, חג הבנות Ḥag HaBanot, heroic women, High Middle Ages, Judith, Megillat Yehudit, resistance, soporifics, women

Contributor(s): Susan Weingarten (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Moshe Shmi'el Dascola and Unknown Author(s)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=4628

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Judith (1921) by Arthur Szyk

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

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