Girls Day (Judaism)

Rosh Chodesh l'banot [1][2](ראש חודש לבנות also known as Chag habanot[2] חג הבנות Girls' Day or in Arabic: Eid Ta'a Albanet or Eid al-Banat[2] or in French: Fête des Filles[2]) is a holiday, celebrated by some of the Jewish communities in the Middle East on Rosh Chodesh of the Jewish month of Tevet, during the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. The Jewish community where the holiday was most preserved is in Tunisia. But there is also evidence that it was also celebrated in Jewish communities in Libya, Algeria, Kushta, Morocco and Thessaloniki.

Origins of the holiday

The holiday Rosh Chodesh l'banot in 1st Tevet, was preserved in Tunisia and the island of Djerba to which the Temple priests were exiled and which preserved many ancient traditions.[3][4] The holiday is celebrated by women in Jewish communities in the Middle East and is linked to several events throughout Jewish history. The Book of Esther tells that in the month of Tevet, was the time when Queen Esther was crowned and many of the Rosh Chodesh l'banot practices are similar to those of Jewish holiday of Purim. Rosh Chodesh of the month of Tevet always applies on Chanukah, which according to various traditions the miracle occurred there by a woman, and is therefore linked to the heroic stories of Judith and Hanna, the daughter of Mattathias. In addition, there are those who link the holiday to the story of Jephthah's daughter, to the expulsion of the alien women during Ezra the Scribe times, and there are those who ascribe the holiday to the story of other heroic women: Deborah and Jael, Serah daughter of Asher, Hannah and her seven sons and Bruriah the wife of Rabbi Meir.

References
  1. A Mosaic of Israel's Traditions: Holidays, Feasts, Fasts, Esther Shkalim
  2. Sapir Shans ,Eid Al-Banat, sefaria.org.il
  3. יהודי האי ג'רבה. הרב פרופ' לוי יצחק רבינוביץ. מחניים צ"ג-צ"ד, תשכ"ד
  4. שירת קודש של נשים יהודיות בג'רבא "בקיצור" מטה יהודה
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