Nature is Miraculous: The Miracle of Chanukah - Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

[Music] Shalom everyone and I know that particularly as we are in a time of travail a time of War a time of mil a time where many Jews over 200 are held as hostage and are our soldiers are putting their lives at risk uh we could aptly describe this period as a period of darkness and yet the lesson of Kaneka is the light that pierces the darkness a light that goes beyond what we thought possible that one day of light somehow became eight days because when God blesses your efforts there is no limit to the that you can receive and as a result Kaneka is a very very auspicious time to contemplate the Divine Light that can rescue us from the greatest darkness that one faces this is true on the national level and this is true on the individual level as well I wanted to share with you a little observation and this is um based on a very very famous question it probably is the most famous question in the whole literature of Kaneka and that is if Kaneka commemorates a miracle that they found enough oil for one day and the manora burned for8 days then the miracle of kanaka was only seven days because the first day there was enough oil so why do we celebrate Kaneka for eight days we should only celebrate it for for seven days starting from the second day this is a question that is asked by rosef Kyo in the Bas yose I know for a fact there are at least 500 answers to the question because I have a safer that has 500 answers to the question I will not I give you all 500 answers but I want to share with you one particular answer the question presupposes that day number one is not a miracle because it is only nature nature there's enough oil for one day the miracle is only the other seven days but in point of fact Judaism teaches there is no such thing as nature everything is a miracle from God nature simply means the Miracles that recur constantly and Miracle refers to that which is unusual and violates the normal Protocols of nature but a sensitive Jew understands that the world does not run of its own accord every single thing that happens in my life every single phenomenon of nature is only coming because of the will of God so in a sense therefore the supernatural Miracle is not a lesson in and of itself but it's there to teach me that even nature itself is ultimately miraculous that is why the ramban says that the word for miracle which is nce is a banner or a flag that attracts attention to what I otherwise wouldn't notice theam s says that this explains an intriguing passage in the famous Kaneka song Mur which is about all of the Exiles but in the stanza about kanah it says b the people of understanding made Kana for 8 Days the says why are they called Bina and his answer is the difference between and Bina is is taking in information Bina is extrapolating from the known to the unknown a would have made Kana for seven days because I see a supernatural change in nature of seven extra days but if I have been now if I extrapolate from the known to the unknown I will understand that even day number one is miraculous thus the Zer says only through the quality of Bina do we make Hana 8 days this is a very important lesson in life we say in our doing three times a day because of the Miracles that we face and we experience every single day life to see to talk to love to think yeah it's normal so to speak but just because it's normal does not negate its miraculous character and for that we need to be eternally grateful joyous appreciative and then barem Israel has such a fine Army and we are so proud of our but we have to recognize that ultimately there is no such thing as a natural Victory everything comes from God and we must appreciate it as miraculous and divine that is one of the lessons of khaka may we indeed see the powers of light overpower the forces of darkness and evil and may this be a precursor to the Final Redemption of mhia for which we yearn so strongly thank you [Music]