Chanukah commemorates the miracle of our military victory and the phenomenon of the oil lasting seven days longer than it was supposed to. How is a Jew supposed to view miracles in general? How are miracles meant to affect our belief?             

As indicated by the Shulchan Aruch (OC 318), one should bless Hashem upon experiencing a miracle. However, the Gemara (Taanis 24a) notes an interesting case where the reaction is quite different. R’ Elazar Ish Birta was notorious for giving too much charity. When the collectors would make rounds, they would hide from him to prevent his own financial demise. On one such occasion, they were unable to elude him. Sure enough, he gave everything on him except one coin.  He bought one stalk of wheat and deposited it.  When his wife peeked in, she found the whole storage area jam packed with wheat.  Surely, a miracle had occurred, and her husband was informed. The husband retorted one should not gain benefit from a miracle.  

There are many interesting facets of this story, but let us focus on why R’ Elazar was so resistant. An investigation into the function of miracles leads us to the period of B’nei Yisrael’s wandering in the desert. The Rambam[1] cites the miracles of krias yam suf, of the manna, and of the water gushing from the rock as miracles that needed to take place to ensure our survival. The Rambam explains that miracles are necessary for our continued progress, but they are not meant to be evidence. They are not meant to substantiate our faith as much as they are meant to sustain us, and enable our advancement. In fact, the Rambam attributes Moshe’s hesitancy in taking the mantle to his concern that Klal Yisrael would not permanently believe in him just because he could perform “tricks” with his staff and his forearm. The Rambam concludes that Moshe was reassured when Hashem told him that the nation was to be convinced only until they left Egypt and experienced Mattan Torah at Har Sinai. When they would personally encounter the Almighty, no more verification would be needed.

Rabbi Yisroel Chait, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Bnei Torah, writes (“Torah from Sinai”, YBT.org) that, “the essence of Judaism is not realized through religious fervor over the miraculous but through an appreciation of G-d’s wisdom as revealed both in Torah and the natural world.” A miracle is a break from natural law. In fact, G-d is only willing to break natural law when there is great need.[2] Consequently, it is best to look at the natural world in order to deepen one’s faith and not to look at a miracle.  We can purely encounter G-d solely through the Torah and the natural world. It is like trying to connect to another person when he is out of character. It is best to know someone when he is being himself.

At a wedding ceremony, the great excitement surrounding the matrimony is not a celebration of a ring being placed on the bride’s finger by her husband. On the contrary, it is focused on the context of marriage where life’s journey begins anew. So too when it comes to a miracle, we do not celebrate the miraculous event as much as we celebrate our being G-d’s nation. Following a miracle, this notion ought to be strengthened within us, but at the same time we should recognize the shortcomings of atypical miracles in that they should not be the basis of our faith. R’ Elazar Ish Birta distanced himself from his miracle and deemed its benefits off-limits because living by way of miracles is not ideal.  On Chanukah, we are not celebrating the supernatural phenomenon of oil lasting longer than was possible as much as we are celebrating G-d’s saving us as a nation and thereby enabling us to continue in our mission to enlighten the world with Torah.

[1]  Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, 8:1

[2]  Rabeinu Bachya – Shmos 11:4