To
My Dear Students,
Chanukah is a time of miracles. A miracle
is an act that defies our expectations:
a thorn bush that burned but was not consumed,
plagues visited upon Egypt, the parting of the
Sea, and the daily supply of manna that sustained
the Israelites in the wilderness are Biblical
miracles. G-d is not limited by the laws
of nature and He can suspend them as He desires.
Just as G-d can follow a script and allow nature
to proceed as intended, so G-d can improvise at
will and upset the natural order through a miraculous
intervention. I believe in both observable
miracles that reveal G-d's mighty arm and concealed
miracles that reflect His hidden hand.
I prefer
to focus, though, not so much on miracles created
by G-d as on man-made miracles.
Based on
G-d's miracle, Chanukah should only be celebrated
for seven days. The miracle was that a one-day
supply of oil burned for seven additional days.
It was not a miracle that the oil, which was expected
to burn for a day, did so. That was natural.
Why, then, celebrate the miracle of chanukah
for eight days when the miracle actually
began on the second day?
Our first
day's celebration is on behalf of a human miracle.
When the Maccabees entered the Temple in Jerusalem
that had been laid waste by the Syrian-Greeks,
they could have simply wept over its destruction.
Instead, they resolved to re-build it from the
ground up. So much work lay before them,
but they did not despair and surrender to the
darkness. They were determined to give all
they had in the effort to rededicate
G-d's
holy Temple.
Whenever we
battle with darkness instead of succumbing to
it, it is a human miracle and worthy of being
celebrated. We kindle light on the first
day of Chanukah to commemorate the miracle of
human fortitude, and we kindle light on the succeeding
severn days to honor G-d's miraculous response
to our efforts. Miraculously, the Maccabees
said: "We will not be conquered by
circumstances. We will create our own circumstances!"
We
often think that a task is too great for us, that
we can never accomplish it and therefore should
not even expend the effort. But the Maccabees
teach us that when we are determined to do all
we can, G-d will respond with miracles in our
lives, helping us to succeed and fulfill our goals
and ambitions.
One
of the foremost miracles is when man acts on faith.
A student asked a teacher: "Does G-d
work miracles?" "Well, it all
depends on what you mean by miracles,"
responded the teacher. "Some people
say it is a miracle that G-d does the will of
the people. I believe it is a miracle when
people do the will of G-d."
Shabbat Shalom,
Your
Rabbi
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