Section: Moadim Category: Chanukah | Yehudis Saves Yerushalayim | | One
of the cruel decrees during the Syrian-Greek rule was that every Jewish
kallah was required to submit herself to a Syrian-Greek officer before
her marriage. Special officers in each town were appointed for
this purpose. The Jewish people refused to submit to this outrageous
decree, and married secretly or delayed marriage in the hope of better
times.
Mattisyahu’s
daughter was engaged, and shortly before the wedding, the officer appeared
to enforce the decree. Mattisyahu and his sons battled the officer
and his soldiers, and miraculously defeated them. The king was
informed and sent his general to besiege Yerushalayim with a huge army.
In due time, the Jews inside the city began suffering from hunger and
thirst; surrender seemed imminent. A beautiful and righteous almanah,
Yehudis (some sources say that Yehudis was actually the daughter of
Mattisyahu) took the initiative to intervene to save her people from
surrendering to the notoriously cruel general.
Yehudis
dressed herself in her finest clothes, adorned herself, and left the
city together with her maidservant, who carried a basket with food and
aged wine. They reached the enemy camp, and informed the guards
that they had a vital and secret message to convey to the general.
The guards allowed them to enter the general’s tent, where the general
eyed the beautiful Yehudis with interest. Yehudis told the general
that she had come to him because the conditions in the city were extremely
difficult, and the Jews were becoming desperate. She wished to
save her people from the general’s anger at their stubbornness, and
she was willing to tell him the best way to defeat the city quickly.
She told the general that she had heard of his valiant and brave war
career, and she wished to get to know him better.
The
general was entranced by Yehudis, and accepted her offer to share a
meal of bread and cheese. Yehudis then offered him strong wine
to quench his thirst. The general drank liberally and quickly
became completely intoxicated.
When
the general was in a deep drunken slumber, Yehudis quickly uttered a
tefillah for success, and withdrew the general’s sword from his sheath,
and bore down on his neck. She cut off his head, wrapped it in
cloths, and concealed it in the basket. Yehudis and the maidservant
then quickly returned to the city where they immediately went to the
Jewish commander. Yehudis showed him the evidence of what she
had done and advised him to prepare his army to attack the enemy early
in the morning. The enemy, who was not expecting the attack, turned
to their general for direction, and panicked when they found him dead.
In this confused and frightened state, they fled from the Jewish army.
It was a miraculous victory wrought by a brave and righteous woman.
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