Chanukah comes and goes so quickly. I think it may be due to the fact that it falls on the shortest days of the calendar year and before you know it, you are already lighting the next candle.
Today is the eighth day of Chanukah. In our teachings, the number eight represents the supernatural. Eight is a step out of the realm of seven, which represents the natural order of things, such as the pattern of the seven days of the week.
It is not a coincidence that the Chanukah miracle lasted for eight days, rather, it is a message that we, the Jewish people, are in the sphere of eight. Our mere existence is nothing short of miraculous! And throughout the eight days of Chanukah we reinforce this by reciting the blessing before lighting the Menorah, “G-d who has made miracles for our forefathers, in those days at this time.”
It is fascinating that the Hebrew word for eight is Shemona, and when just one vowel is switched it can read Shemaina – which means oil!
In reality, it is not harder for G-d to perform miracles than to enact the normal patterns He built into creation. Every so often when we experience a miracle or hear of one, it is a jolt that prods us to give a special thank you to G-d for showing us His special touch.
I read a story of a woman living in Israel who had a severe kidney ailment. She was told by her doctor that she would not be able to conceive. The doctor added, if in the one in a 10 million chance she does become pregnant, she will have to abort the fetus since it would definitely kill her.
Well, sometime later, she became pregnant, and she and her husband went to consult their Rebbe for Halachic guidance. He listened to them and told them that this was not his area of expertise, and instructed them to ask the great sage Rabbi Moshe Feinstein o.b.m. who resided in New York for his ruling on the matter. The couple had already planned a trip to the US and they made an appointment and met with Reb Moshe.
Reb Moshe listened intently to all the medical details and asked pertinent questions. He thought deeply for some time and then said the following in regards to this particular situation. “The doctor said that it is almost impossible for you to become pregnant. The only way you became pregnant is through a miracle from Hashem. Hashem does not do miracles for naught. There was a reason He did it for you. Go through with the pregnancy and I bless you that you and the baby will be healthy and well.”
The lady listened to the Rabbi and she delivered a healthy full-term baby!
In the latter segment of our daily Amida prayer is a section called the blessing of thankfulness. We bow twice, once at the beginning of the blessing starting with the word Modim – we gratefully thank You Hashem ― and again at the conclusion of the blessing of thanks.
Within the Modim prayer we thank G-d, “For all the miracles that are with us every day.”
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein o.b.m. once asked the obvious question, “How can we say such a statement? Do we all experience or even notice miracles that happen to us every day?”
Reb Moshe explains that this prayer is referring to the miracles that G-d does for us on a daily basis that we are totally unaware of. Some of these are the miracles of how our bodies function and our cells thwart disease, and at times, it is when we decide to go one route and would have been in harm’s way if we would have gone a different way. The list is endless. We humbly thank G-d for the things and miracles that we are clueless about.
Based on what Rabbi Feinstein told the young lady who had an ailment and miraculously became pregnant – that G-d does not perform miracles for naught, I was thinking that when we recite these words in Modim – “Thank You Hashem – for all the miracles that are with us every day,” we should think that G-d has a personal interest in each and every one of us, and that we are worthy of His daily miracles. This means that each of us has a unique and distinct talent and mission in life – and we are worthy in the Eyes of the Almighty so that He performs custom made miracles for each and every one of us – for G-d does not perform miracles for no reason!
