Miracles is a major theme of Chanukah!
We celebrate “major” miracles. Yet ironically the Talmud says, “the recipient of a miracle doesn’t usually recognize the miracle they’re receiving”.
This had me thinking about the definition of miracle. How could that be? I mean, isn’t a miracle something that is out of the ordinary right there in plain sight?
Earlier this week I read about someone in Brooklyn who won 10 million dollars in a scratch-off lotto. Apparently the odds of winning is one in 3.5million. Hmm. Is that a miracle? Don’t answer that yet, because 15 months later he won a second scratch off lotto game for another 10 million. Now it gets exciting. The odds of that happening is one in 12 trillion. Is that a miracle?
Perhaps the words “out of the ordinary” are the key words here. Yet the irony is, for the person that wins twice, do they feel more or less likely to win again? Do they continue to play or do they cut and run?
We all know the answer… the more something happens, the more it seems likely to happen again and it takes an objective observer to point out just how miraculous and out of the ordinary it really all is…
Chanukah is a time of miracles. Each of our lives are full of miracles. Do we see them? Based on the above it seems likely that the answer is “not enough”. Perhaps that’s the very message of Chanukah— to count our blessings & appreciate the miracles that fill our lives!!