Parashah Miketz - Channukah

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A GREAT MIRACLE HAPPENED THERE
“Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, yet without you, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” (Bereshit41:44)
This week Jews throughout the world will be spinning dreidels, little tops with letters that spell out the sentence “A great miracle happened there.” (In Israel the dreidels have slightly different letters – “A great miracle happened here.) Each night as we light Hanukkah candles, we will say a blessing thanking G-d “for doing miracles for our fathers in those days, and in our own day.” And at every service throughout the festival, we will add a paragraph al hanisim “for the miracles.”
What was this great miracle? Any Jewish child will tell the Talmudic story of lighting the menorah in the rededicated Temple. There was only enough kosher oil to last for one day, but due to a miracle G-d made the oil last for eight days. It is a wonderful story. But is it true? The original sources of Hanukkah do not mention this story. They simply talk of a military victory, and of a late celebration of the eight day Sukkot festival. Originally the Hanukkah story was about totally natural historical events. There was no story of G-d changing the laws of nature by making oil burn unnaturally.
To drive this point home, let us turn to another post-Torah festival which Jews will celebrate in a few more months – Purim. Once again we will say a blessing to G-d “for doing miracles for our fathers in those days, and in our own day.” And once again we will add a paragraph al hanisim “for the miracles” to our prayers. Where was the miracle of Purim? The book of Esther which tells the Purim story does not even mention G-d. It is a book about the heroic action of Mordecai and his cousin Esther, who became the queen. The whole story is simply history. Where was G-d’s intervention? Where was the miracle?
Perhaps it is time to rethink our definition of miracles. We tend to see a miracle as an extraordinary event which cannot be explained by natural laws. G-d parts the waters of the Sea of Reeds, G-d makes the sun stand still, or G-d makes a little oil last eight days. We see a miracle as an amazing event which neither science nor history can explain. It is as if G-d interferes with G-d’s own laws. And that is extremely problematic.
We need to redefine the word “miracle.” The Hebrew for miracle is nes which simply means “banner.” A miracle is not some magical event. It is more like a banner which waves and which we can see. A natural or historical event takes place; we can explain it. But if we look carefully, we can say that this is the hand of G-d.
This idea of the hand of G-d behind the scenes is also in our Torah reading. Joseph is rescued from prison and becomes the second most powerful man in Egypt. He is able to rescue his brothers, the same brothers who were ready to sell him into slavery. A series of natural historical events separates and then reunites the brothers. Yet Joseph in next week’s portion will say to his brothers, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (Genesis 45:8) G-d is at work behind the scenes.
A miracle is a totally natural event. If it is a miracle of nature such as the parting of the sea, the laws of science can explain it. If it is a historical miracle such as Hanukkah or Purim, historians can explain it. It becomes a miracle when a person of faith looks at the event and sees the hand of G-d. A miracle is an event that points towards a greater reality, a consciousness beyond the physical or material world.
It is possible to go through life without ever seeing a miracle. As the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism taught, “The world is full of wonders and miracles; but we take our hands, and cover our eyes, and see nothing.” What Hanukkah tries to do is teach us to uncover our eyes, look out at the world, and see the hand of G-d. On Hanukkah may we learn to look out at the world and declare, “A great miracle happened here.”