{"id":43378,"date":"2016-12-15T14:49:37","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T14:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=43378"},"modified":"2016-12-18T13:40:39","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T13:40:39","slug":"making-miracle-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/making-miracle-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Miracle Great: Rabbi Soloveitchik on the Miracle of Chanukah"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><u><\/u><em>Nes gadol hayah sham<\/em>, \u201cA great miracle happened\u00a0there.\u201d These beloved words are symbolized by the four initials nun (\u05e0)\u00a0gimmel ( \u05d2), heh ( \u05d4), shin ( \u05e9), which appear on the dreidel, referring of course\u00a0to the miracle of Chanukah.<\/p>\n<p>Moses stands at the burning bush and observes a miracle. The bush\u00a0is on fire and astonishingly the leaves and branches are not consumed.\u00a0Moses witnesses his first miracle. In response he says, \u201cI see a great sight\u201d\u00a0(Exodus 3:3).<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik asks: \u201cWhy did Moses not call it a nes, a\u00a0miracle? Why did he simply say, \u2018I see something great\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although Moses was aware that he was witnessing a miracle, that is\u00a0not what intrigued him. Rather, what riveted Moses was the message that\u00a0he heard. It was a great sight for one reason: because Moses responded\u00a0to the call of God.<\/p>\n<p>Simply seeing something supernatural did not impress Moses. The\u00a0burning bush was \u201cgreat\u201d in his mind and heart because in that extraordinary\u00a0interaction, Moses took on a new challenge and charted a new course\u00a0in his life. The moment was transformative. Moses accepted a new mission.<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Soloveitchik taught, \u201cIt is not always necessary for an event to be miraculous in order to be great, and not every miraculous event is a great event.\u201d An event is great only if the following things occur: it fosters change, it impacts the person, it ushers in a new era, and it produces great things. Whether or not the event was miraculous or natural is not critical.\u00a0No matter how miraculous an event is, it is very \u201csmall\u201d if it is wasted.<\/p>\n<p>This teaching speaks directly to the great miracle of Chanukah. These\u00a0events were great because they produced a transformation of the Jewish\u00a0people. The Jews proved that not only could they defeat a fierce enemy\u00a0on the battlefield, but they could also purify the spiritual defilement of\u00a0a whole population, a nation that overwhelmingly had sunk deeply into\u00a0the impurity of the soul and contamination of the spirit.<\/p>\n<p>The events witnessed during the days of Chanukah inspired change.\u00a0Life did not remain the same as before. During the days of Chanukah, the\u00a0Jews took advantage of the new opportunity that was offered to them: a\u00a0spiritual revival and a rededication to religious values and to a committed\u00a0life \u2013 truly a great thing.<\/p>\n<p>The Jewish people engaged in a national rededication to the Torah\u00a0and tradition. \u201cRededication\u201d is the very meaning of the word Chanukah.\u00a0The Sages waited a full year before they declared Chanukah a holiday.\u00a0Why did they not establish the holiday immediately after the great\u00a0miracles of the disproportionate battle and the eight-day burning of the\u00a0one flask of pure oil in the Menorah?<\/p>\n<p>The Sages waited to see whether the change was lasting. Had the\u00a0Jewish people truly transformed their lives? Only then, when the Sages\u00a0saw the life-changing impact, did they consider this story to be great,\u00a0worthy of celebration for all time.<\/p>\n<p>The Jewish people, in the days of Chanukah, acted heroically, not only\u00a0on the battlefield, but also in renewing and strengthening their allegiance\u00a0to God and to the Torah.<\/p>\n<p>As we celebrate these events each year, we should also aspire to emulate\u00a0this remarkable kind of heroism in our own lives.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider has published a new book on Chanukah, &#8216;The Light That Unites&#8221; ( Halpern Press). His best selling Haggadah, &#8220;The Night That Unites&#8221; was published in English (Urim Press) and Hebrew ( Yediot Achronot Press).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nes gadol hayah sham, \u201cA great miracle happened\u00a0there.\u201d These beloved words are symbolized by the four initials nun (\u05e0)\u00a0gimmel ( \u05d2), heh ( \u05d4), shin ( \u05e9), which appear on the dreidel, referring of course\u00a0to the miracle of Chanukah. Moses stands at the burning bush and observes a miracle. The bush\u00a0is on fire and astonishingly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133037,"featured_media":43379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chanukah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Making a Miracle Great: Rav Soloveitchik on the Chanukah Miracle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An event such as the Chanukah miracle is great only if it fosters change, it impacts the person, it ushers in a new era, and it produces great things.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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