![\"Safran](\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Safran-Dreidel-Collection-2-e1474286108224-768x512.jpg\")
Beis Yosef asked, \u201cWhy do we celebrate Chanukah<\/strong> for eight days if there was ample oil to last for one day?\u00a0 It would seem that the miracle was that the oil lasted an additional seven days<\/i>\u2026 in which case, Chanukah should be celebrated for seven days, not eight.\u201d<\/p>\nThis most famous of Chanukah questions can certainly give one pause.\u00a0 Not that there are not any number of answers given.\u00a0 Indeed, there are hundreds of answers that have been offered over the ages to Beis Yosef\u2019s question.\u00a0 Some are logical.\u00a0 Some are fanciful.\u00a0 All try to go to the heart of Chanukah and what it means to the Jewish people.<\/p>\n
There is one answer that speaks to me.\u00a0 It offers a hint to why I am so enamored with my ever-growing dreidel\u00a0<\/strong>collection; a collection that I began some twelve years ago when I met my beloved wife, Clary.\u00a0 I remember that moment so clearly.\u00a0 It was the second night of Chanukah\u2026 yes, it was a miracle for me to have met my dear Clary.\u00a0 But even that remembrance begets a Chanukah question.\u00a0 \u00a0In my heart, the dreidel came to symbolize that wonderful meeting and yet\u2026 wouldn\u2019t a single grandiose dreidel have been enough to commemorate that life-transforming moment?\u00a0 Why did I feel moved \u2013 some might suggest compelled <\/i>\u2013 to continue to amass dreidel after dreidel, growing my collection into hundreds upon hundreds of dreidels from the United States, from Israel, from Spain, Hungary, India, Russia, Scotland\u2026 indeed, from all over the world.\u00a0 So many wondrous tops!\u00a0 So many that anyone who comes into the room where I keep my many volumes of books will find themselves transported by the sight of them.<\/p>\n No single dreidel for me, no!\u00a0 For me, hundreds of dreidels, made from a broad array of materials, coming in all sizes and colors.\u00a0 Some, when you spin them, perform with little music boxes.\u00a0 Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n But why more dreidels every year?<\/p>\n It is a rare visitor to our home who doesn\u2019t view my wonderful collection and then, the smile fading from his or her face, \u201cBut, Rabbi Safran, of all the things in the world to collect, why dreidels?\u201d<\/p>\n Ah, lest you think that my collection is simply whimsy, an opportunity to recall the delightful evenings of childhood when the joy of Chanukah filled my household, let me share with you my response.\u00a0 \u201cWhat,\u201d I ask, \u201cdoes the dreidel teach us?\u00a0 What is its message?\u201d<\/p>\n Nes Gadol Haya Poh<\/i> (in Israel) or Nes Gadol Haya Sham<\/i> (outside Israel)<\/p>\n A great miracle happened t\/here!<\/p>\n Step into my library and you see hundreds upon hundreds of reminders that miracles surround us, here, there, and everywhere.\u00a0 No matter where we look, our lives are touched by miracle.\u00a0 Our lives are <\/i>miracles.<\/p>\n Just as God is everywhere, so too are the miracles that He brings about.\u00a0 His miracles are as unceasing as His love.\u00a0 Each day, when we recite, Modim anachnu lach\u2026 <\/i>we are reminded of God as the source of all daily miracles.\u00a0 Ve\u2019al nisecha she\u2019b\u2019chol yom imanu\u00a0 <\/i>(And for Your miracles (nissim<\/i>) <\/i>that are with us every day; and for Your wonders and favors (niflaos<\/i>) <\/i>in every season.\u201d<\/p>\n The question then should not be, Why so many dreidels?\u00a0 The question should be, Why not more and more and more?\u00a0 We can never have enough dreidels.\u00a0 We can never exhaust our praise for God\u2019s wonders and miracles.<\/p>\n Wonders (niflos<\/i>) surround us everywhere.\u00a0 They are, at once, special and ordinary.\u00a0 So ordinary that we often take them for granted.\u00a0 The rain, the blossoming flower, the brilliance of a blue sky, even the very air we breathe.\u00a0 All these wonders\u2026 and we experience them without giving them a second thought!\u00a0 We call them teva<\/i>, nature.\u00a0 And we experience them the way we do because they represent the wonderful world the way it is supposed to be<\/i>.<\/p>\n Miracles, on the other hand, are\u2026 well, miraculous.\u00a0 We recognize miracles as being \u201cout of the ordinary.\u201d\u00a0 It is, as has been noted, a break from the natural routine.\u00a0 They are those events that are, quite literally, \u201cnothing short of miraculous.\u201d<\/p>\n Which brings us back to Chanukah.\u00a0 During the time of the Second Temple, a small, valiant band of Jews fought the mighty Greek armies.\u00a0 They miraculously <\/i>defeated them and won back not only the Temple but their religious freedom.<\/p>\n On the 25th day of Kislev, we once again lit the chanukiah <\/i>in the Temple, only to realize that all but one flask of oil had been defiled. \u00a0Only one.\u00a0 Enough for one night of light.\u00a0 But then another miracle occurred and the oil burned for eight days.<\/p>\n Our Sages teach that there is no real difference between nature and miracles; God\u2019s hand guides everything in the world. \u00a0However, we are often so lost in our routine that we become blind to the wonder of God\u2019s hand all around us. \u201cNature\u201d is just the word we use to speak of the breathtaking beauty and symmetry of God\u2019s Creation becoming routine.<\/p>\n We expect it.<\/p>\n A miracle, though, shakes us from our stupors.\u00a0 A miracle breaks our routine and draws our attention to God\u2019s dominion over all life.<\/p>\n Dreidel, delightful, silly, wonderful, playful little dreidels, remind us of the existence of miracles.<\/p>\n Not just one dreidel.\u00a0 Thousands!<\/p>\n The Levush comments on the seemingly strange phrase used in the opening sentence of Al ha\u2019Nisim recited throughout Chanukah, when we praise God \u201cfor the miracles, and for the salvation\u2026.which You performed for our forefathers \u2013 bayamim ha\u2019em bazman ha\u2019zeh<\/i> \u2013 in those days, at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Which is it?\u00a0 In those days, or at this time?<\/p>\n Levush notes that this phrase refers to a \u201cdouble dose\u201d of praise \u2013 for the miracles of yesteryear and for the countless miracles we experience each and every day.\u00a0 Every breath, every sunset and sunrise, every newborn, is a new miracle bazman hazeh<\/i>.\u00a0 Every miracle calling for a new dreidel to remind us that life never stops spinning, not even for a second.<\/p>\n Which returns us to Beis Yosef\u2019s question.\u00a0 With only a single day\u2019s supply, the oil lasted eight.\u00a0 But why eight days instead of the \u201cmiraculous\u201d seven additional days?\u00a0 The Ramban suggests it is because teva<\/i>, that which we recognize as the everyday, as natural and normal, is also a miracle.\u00a0 The Chazon Ish agrees, teaching that teva <\/i>is merely miracles that recur on a steady and regular basis.\u00a0 That oil can burn and give us light is, in and of itself, a miracle!<\/p>\n Rav Chanina ben Dosa forewarned his daughter (Taanis 25a), \u201cThe One Who commanded oil to burn, He can command vinegar to burn as well.\u201d<\/p>\n We need to be reminded of the great Chanukah miracle, that a mere one day\u2019s supply of oil burned for eight.\u00a0 We also need to remember what we too often forget, that for oil to burn at all is a miracle too.<\/p>\n Ramban teaches that it is through a recognition of the great miracles that one can ultimately recognize and praise the miracles hidden in everyday life.\u00a0 By the same token, until we recognize and embrace life\u2019s everyday miracles, we might remain blind to the great miracles. Just as the extraordinary allows us to see the ordinary, it is the ordinary that opens our hearts to the out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n Rav Yeruchem Levovitz teaches, \u201cWhat is a miracle? It is a window into God\u2019s conduct of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n A miracle allows us to sense God\u2019s influence on the natural order.\u00a0 As we gaze upon those on-going, wondrous alterations, how can we fail to acknowledge that the very same God Who performs such miracles is the very God Who maintains the world; Who spins it and all that is in it.\u00a0 The everyday \u2013 teva <\/i>– is a wonder!\u00a0 A miracle!<\/p>\n Can I ever have enough dreidels ?<\/p>\n