221 - Chanukah (Day-1)

We are so privileged to currently be experiencing these eight powerful days of spiritual dynamite. Although usually throughout the year, we certainly are called on to make our maximum effort to grow in our emunah and bitachon, and as many Torah authorities outlined to us, such as the Mesillas Yesharim at the beginning of his book - that the purpose of life is to give us an opportunity to overcome the tests that Hashem sends us. 

And in many ways, we are called on to view life as if it were in our own hands, of course, always according to the values of Emunah, such as reaching out to Hashem and asking Him for help, but again, assuming that it is our responsibility to do whatever we can from our side within our maximum capacity to overcome the tests and challenges that Hashem sends us, which are ultimately opportunities to reach our maximum potential for our eternal reward b'ezrat Hashem. 

However, at the same time, these opportune moments that we have at different times of the year, where Hashem imbues a certain holiness, where the opportunity for connection is all that much more stronger; let us capitalize on the tremendous opportunity we have during these holy days of Chanukah, where the potential for closer connection with Hashem and for a tremendous boost in Emunah and Bitachon is available to every single one of us.

On Chanukah, we express our gratitude to Hashem, celebrating the tremendous miracles that He performed for us in times of old. We have the tremendous opportunity to perform the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah candles, which ultimately commemorates the miracle which transpired in the Chanukah story. We know that the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash needed oil to be able to be kindled from. And when the Greek enemy destroyed the Beis Hamikdash, when the Jewish people came back and discovered just one jar of oil that was available to kindle the menorah, a miracle transpired and the oil, which was supposed to last for only one day, continued to burn for an entire eight days, an outright miracle. 

The message of Chanukah is coming to teach us what we are really trying to work on throughout the year - Emunah and Bittachon - that Hashem exclusively orchestrates every single detail in every single one of our lives. Yes, usually, for whatever reason, Hashem does not decide to come through for us via the means of outright miracles, but He usually rather opts to work through the course of nature; but as the famous Ramban at the end of Parashat Bo teaches: just like Hashem is the One who is able to break nature and go against the usual order of the way the world operates, such as by splitting the sea, causing the miraculous plagues to appear in Egypt, and by extension, when Hashem performs these outright miracles, such as when Hashem caused the oil, which is only supposed to last for one day, to be able to burn for the entire eight days - this is a tremendous opportunity for us to inculcate Hashem's perspective, the only true perspective, the Emunah and Bitachon perspective, that although yes, we are usually called on to work within the laws of nature and to make our maximum effort, as if we are in control, to do the best that we can, however at the end of the day we are never to forget, even slightly, that Hashem exclusively orchestrates every single detail in every single one of our lives. 

Just like Hashem was the One to change nature in the past and split the sea, bring about the plagues in Egypt, and more relevant to our times right now, to cause the oil to burn no shorter than eight times longer than it is supposed to according to the laws of nature, the message of Chanukah is coming to teach us that the laws of nature is just Hashem hiding within the normal way that the world operates, giving us the opportunity to look under the veil of nature and acknowledge that ein od milvado - there is nothing in the world except for Hashem.