Like so many who have read Judith’s story over the centuries, I was captivated by her. In particular, I loved the dramatic narrative power of a young woman who singlehandedly wins a battle against all odds, using only her brilliant strategy and her physical beauty.

As I wrote the song, I got to imagine myself as the heroine. I imagined what it would feel like to dress up and walk directly into the enemy encampment, just as my people are on the verge of losing a war. Was Judith unbelievably brave, was her faith unshakeable, or did she simply have nothing to lose?  In the annotated song lyrics below, you can find the specific verses I chose to comment on, as well as a few of the details that I added or modified, and additional thoughts about the lyrics.

Musically, I chose a minor melody in three (a waltz rhythm) to reflect the grace and danger of Judith’s actions. I also chose to begin where Judith’s story begins in the Catholic text - with her young husband’s sudden death in the barley fields. I based the beginning of the song, as well as the title, on the mysterious phrase that describes her husband’s death - perhaps it’s sunstroke? - when “a heat came upon his head.”

In my imagination, Judith’s life was going along just fine until her husband’s sudden death knocked her off her comfortable trajectory. She seems relatively privileged; even three years after his death, she has a maid and enough resources that procuring a gorgeous dress and jewelry at a moment’s notice is no problem. Still, with her life suddenly turned upside down by the loss of her husband, I imagine Judith questioning everything she’s been taught, and losing faith in her assigned role as a genteel young woman. And so she puts on her clothes of mourning, and keeps them on for three years, stepping out of her role as a beautiful young woman.

In my re-telling, the experience of losing her husband teaches Judith to see through the structures that hold our lives intact. This causes her great grief, but in a moment of crisis, it also gives her the audacity to challenge those in power, and to risk everything - including her life - in order to save her people. Through her loss, Judith has learned that everything can change in a moment, that we never know what’s around the corner, and that cause and effect are not as simple as they seem. And so she sees through the simple faith of the city’s leaders, who assume that if God wants them to be saved, God will save them. Instead, Judith takes matters into her own hands, changing the course of (fictional) history.

Does faith in God mean that we have no power over what happens? And conversely, does faith in our own potential for action cancel out the idea of a divine power? Personally, I think this dichotomy is too simple. I understand faith and action as being intimately connected, and I see Judith reflecting this connection.

On one hand, Judith is a woman of great faith.  She criticizes the men in power for giving God five days to subdue the enemy army, then accepting defeat (Judith 8:11-15). She argues for the omnipotence of God, and the ridiculousness of making bargains or time limits with the Divine power.

On the other hand, Judith also seems to implicitly criticize the leaders’ lack of action (8:22-23). God will carry out the victory, Judith says, through her hand. In other words, God is going to act through Judith. God may save the city, but not without the brilliance, bravery and strategy of Judith.

In other words, Judith, from her position of seeming powerlessness, directly contradicts the leaders on both their spiritual and military stance. She asserts that God will indeed save them - through her actions. In this way, Judith - a seeming non-expert - is revealed as the person who understands far more than the experts about the way God works in the world, and is in fact God’s instrument in the world. I find this fascinating, and chose to emphasize it in my song.

(That said, I did modify the original story in one significant way. In chapter 9, Judith is extremely pious, repeatedly praying as she prepares to head out of the city into the enemy tent. In my imagining, she doesn’t pray with words, she simply takes action - as Heschel might say, praying with her feet.)

Finally, I concluded the song with Judith imagining the ramifications of her action with radical compassion. Yes, she has saved her city, including the children who were about to starve because of the general’s cruel siege. But in killing Holofernes, she imagines, she is creating a widow just like herself. I imagine Judith, as she draws the sword down, acknowledging that although her action may be necessary, it is not without consequences; that in order to end a war, she creates suffering elsewhere, in a woman who may be similar to Judith herself.

Judith is a heroine, but she is complicit - as are we all - in an extremely complicated system of power, victory and loss, life and death. In my interpretation, part of claiming her power is claiming the fact that her constructive actions may also have destructive results. To me, this ascribes to Judith the ultimate bravery: the courage not only to act in ways that risk her life, but to look critically at her own actions and her own culpability in the world.