Chanukah

God to produce miracles unnecessarily; and the individual who is so aware of God’s omnipotence that he does not perceive nature as a force unto itself at all. The second individual understands that all that takes place — so-called natural events and miracles — occurs by the hand of God. Such a person may rely on miracles. To quote Rabbi Chanina, “He who has commanded oil to burn will command vinegar to burn!” Neither of the two phenomena — the natural and the miraculous — calls for extra “effort.” He is directly responsible for both.

Thus, on Chanukah, when the veil of darkness called nature was momentarily lifted, people saw the hand of the “One who commanded oil to burn,” and they attained a level of belief comparable to Rabbi Chanina’s. They recognized that all events bear the imprint of the hand of God. It was then possible for them to divide the oil into eight equal parts and rely on God to extend the duration of its glow eightfold, from a few hours to an entire day. Nor was it unseemly for them to do this. For people to whom natural and miraculous are identical, the rule of “do not rely on miracles” does not apply.

Originally published in Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky's Timepieces: Reflections on the Jewish Year, Targum/Feldheim, 1995.

With over 20 seforim authored, Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky brings to the Greater Washington community and the yeshiva the cumulative impact of decades of learning at the Mir Yerushalayim. He continues the mesorah of his rebbeim, Harav Chaim Shmuelevitz zt”l, Harav Nachum Partzovitz zt”l, and his fatherin-law, Rav Beinish Finkel zt”l (the late Rosh HaYeshiva of the Mir). His approach to learning was also deeply influenced by his long association as a close talmid of Harav Moshe Shapiro zt”l. The Rosh Yeshiva’s seforim and shiurim can be purchased and accessed at www.eshelpublications.com.