Miracles VI

“Remember His wonders that He wrought, His marvels and the judgments of His mouth.” (Psalms 105:5) The Radak points out that this psalm was a response to a single miracle, the Divinely guided return of the Ark from the Philistines, and yet David tells us to remember His many miracles, in the plural. The proper response to a single miracle is to “Remember – all – His wonders that He wrought.”

Chanukah is not the celebration over a single miracle, that of the oil burning for eight days. Nor is it a celebration only over the miracles that allowed the Chashmonaim to recover the Beit Hamikdash. It is, as King David teaches us, a celebration of all the miracles in our history as a nation, and all the miracles in our lives as individuals.

We can prepare for Chanukah by reviewing the miraculous events in our lives, and recounting the numerous miracles that have kept Israel alive and thriving throughout its great history.

I suggest reviewing Bible stories that contain great miracles, especially the “oil stories” of Elijah and Elisha.