Judith and Her Midrashim: Shame and the Circulation of Power
Wed, December 18, 10:30am to 12:00pm EST (10:30am to 12:00pm EST), Virtual Zoom Room 06Abstract
Although part of the canon for Greek-speaking Jews, the book of Judith is not included in the Hebrew canon that coalesces by the end of the first century. Even so, Judith never entirely disappears in the Jewish tradition, reemerging in a collection of Medieval texts, many of which link Judith’s story to the holiday of Hanukkah. A theme that runs through these Hanukkah midrashim is shame. In the book of Judith, only one character worries about shame. In discussing his plan to seduce the beautiful widow, Holofernes notes that he is compelled to do so otherwise he will be shamed (Jdt 12:12). In the Hanukkah midrashim, however, shame is not among the general’s concerns. Instead, shame surfaces in two other places, both of which are departures from the original story’s plot. The first is in the additional narrative of Hannah (unnamed in some versions), and the second is when Judith is denied entry by the gatekeepers of Jerusalem.
According to Silvan Tompkins, shame is one of the nine innate affects that lie behind human feelings and emotions. More than the other affects, shame is intrinsically tied to notions of identity, both as an internal sense and as it is constituted in relationship. In this way, shame is a social emotion and can function in political ways. Aided by Tompkins and other affect theorists (Eve Sedgewick and Sara Ahmed) as well as historical and philosophical accounts of shame, this paper will explore the contours of shame in the Hanukkah midrashim. In both cases, men attempt to thrust shame onto the women because of shame’s association with the naked female body and sexuality; in both cases, the women refuse to be shamed and instead circulate the power of the affect in other politically productive ways. This paper will include some representations of Judith in the visual and liturgical arts.