First Day of Hanukkah + Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent

Today's Readings

The 16th century rabbinic scholar Yosef Karo asked a probing question about the origins of the festival of Hanukkah that for generations has perplexed people. According to tradition, when the Maccabees rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem they could only find enough pure oil to light the menorah candelabra that stood in the Temple for one day, yet it stayed lit for eight days. If this is true, shouldn’t Hanukkah be celebrated for seven days since the menorah staying lit for one day was not a miracle? Karo himself offered a few possible explanations. Maybe the Maccabees divided up the oil into eight smaller portions and therefore the miracle actually began on day one? Maybe after the first day the oil was all used up but miraculously regenerated itself each subsequent day? Maybe on the first day the oil miraculously became a sort of everlasting oil and none of it burned away until after eight days? There have been hundreds of attempts to answer Karo’s question and I would like to say a few words about the explanation given by the 19th century rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, also known as the Elder of Kelm. The Elder of Kelm said that our daily experience is filled with things that are truly miraculous but we are often unable to realize just how miraculous they are until something extraordinary happens. For the Elder of Kelm the very possibility of oil burning is miraculous, whether it was for one or eight days. Our lives are filled with miracles that we experience every day. Sometimes they’re small and go unnoticed while other times they overwhelm us. As we end the year, let us be thankful for the miracles that we experience every day and try to become more attuned to the miraculous things that happen to us daily.

Michael Pitkowsky
Manager of Enrollment Analytics, St. Francis College