hanukkah or chonukah

A Broken Girl

I flipped through the pages of the book I held within my hands. I was engrossed. The stories of men and women came alive before my eyes; never could I have imagined just how powerfully the apocryphal stories would change my life. Encouraged by my Torah teacher, I devoured the Old Testament apocrypha, as though it were a single glass of water because it was and I was thirsty. Thirsty to discover the stories that had been forgotten and left out. One story however, had a particularly big impact on my heart it was the story of a woman named Judith. Judith was a woman acquainted with loss, but her bravery and courage struck something in me. I researched Judith’s story for an entire year, the incongruent dates, the strange characters, all of it, until I was satisfied. When I finally closed the book, I cried prayerfully and whispered to YHVH about this connection I felt with Judith. I could sense Him smiling, perhaps He knew something I didn’t, perhaps...