Miracles XI

“As in the days when you left Egypt I will show it wonders.” (Micah 7:15) Rabbi Yosi taught; “Why does it say, ‘ as in the days,’ not ‘on the day,’ they left Egypt on one day?” The entire period of time of the plagues and Redemption, the ‘days,’ were filled with blessing, so too, at the time of the final Redemption, the people will experience that the entire time is one of blessing. (Zohar, Volume III 176a)

From the moment that the Chashmonaim experienced success in battling such a fierce army, they experienced the entire period as one of blessing. The small jar of oil, with only sufficient oil for burning a single ‘day,’ as the day we left Egypt, burned for eight days to indicate that the entire period was one of blessing and miracles.

We do not celebrate the miracles of Chanukah as just miracles, but as a time of tremendous blessing. The miracles occurred because the period of time was one of extraordinary blessing.

We usually rejoice when we experience a miracle, and forget that the miracle is an expression of the period of time; the miracle is a message that we are living in a time of great blessing. The days are filled with potential and opportunity. Our challenge on Chanukah, or whenever we experience a miracle is to take advantage of the time, never a single event or single day, but, “As in the days when you left Egypt.”