MapMistress
Member
I've been trying to figure this out and need some feedback, discussion, theories of others.
Chanukah used to be a minor holiday based on other texts. And the foods eaten on Chanukah, such as potato latkes, clearly were not the foods of the past. Potatoes only became a European food after Christopher Columbus brought them to Spain.
So digging around I found that it used to be Cheese Latkes eaten on Chanukah which was fairly common in the 1300s or 14th century. But this was based on the story of Judith who under Babylonian captivity used the salty cheese to make Holofernes thirsty, so that he drank too much wine and got too drunk, and then she was able to cut of his head.
But Chanukah is not about Babylonian captivity, it is about Syrian Greek occupation of Israel hundreds of years later. Yet this custom of eating Cheese Latkes during Chanukah in honor of Judith is well established. Rabbi Moses Isserles of the 14th century recommends eating the cheese for Chanukah.
So was there a previous holiday honoring Judith after Babylonian captivity that just happened to fall on the later holiday of Chanukah? Was this original Judith story used to motivate people to overthrow Syrian Greeks? Or was Judith simply written out of the Chanukah story for some reason?
Clearly Ashkenazi Jews had no access to olive oil and therefore had to fry their Chanukah foods in animal fat, which meant that they had to use non-dairy foods to remain kosher. That meant Ashkenazis stopped eating the Cheese Latkes as they could not fry cheese in animal fat. But this tradition of Cheese Latkes spans hundreds of years among the Sephardic Jews.
Foods eaten among families on holidays indicates long standing traditions. Cheese Latkes to honor Judith clearly predates any of the other Chanukah foods. So did Judith used to have her own holiday that later fell into the calendar in the same time frame of Chanukah?
Chanukah used to be a minor holiday based on other texts. And the foods eaten on Chanukah, such as potato latkes, clearly were not the foods of the past. Potatoes only became a European food after Christopher Columbus brought them to Spain.
So digging around I found that it used to be Cheese Latkes eaten on Chanukah which was fairly common in the 1300s or 14th century. But this was based on the story of Judith who under Babylonian captivity used the salty cheese to make Holofernes thirsty, so that he drank too much wine and got too drunk, and then she was able to cut of his head.
But Chanukah is not about Babylonian captivity, it is about Syrian Greek occupation of Israel hundreds of years later. Yet this custom of eating Cheese Latkes during Chanukah in honor of Judith is well established. Rabbi Moses Isserles of the 14th century recommends eating the cheese for Chanukah.
So was there a previous holiday honoring Judith after Babylonian captivity that just happened to fall on the later holiday of Chanukah? Was this original Judith story used to motivate people to overthrow Syrian Greeks? Or was Judith simply written out of the Chanukah story for some reason?
Clearly Ashkenazi Jews had no access to olive oil and therefore had to fry their Chanukah foods in animal fat, which meant that they had to use non-dairy foods to remain kosher. That meant Ashkenazis stopped eating the Cheese Latkes as they could not fry cheese in animal fat. But this tradition of Cheese Latkes spans hundreds of years among the Sephardic Jews.
Foods eaten among families on holidays indicates long standing traditions. Cheese Latkes to honor Judith clearly predates any of the other Chanukah foods. So did Judith used to have her own holiday that later fell into the calendar in the same time frame of Chanukah?
