As we wish all of our friends and family a holiday of light and happiness and we play dreidel with our children and grandchildren, we should not have to be reminded of what “nes gadol haya sham” really means.
In actual fact, isn’t it true that we are all witnesses of nissim every day of our lives? Yes, that of Chanukah we are all aware. However, we wonder how many of us stop and realize the daily miracles that we are fortunate enough to be a part of?
Monday, our seventh great-grandchild was born. Sunday we ate latkes and had a freilichen first night of Chanukah with our eldest grandson Yoel and his extremely pregnant wife Chaya. The next morning at 6, Chaya was no longer pregnant but the mother of her third child, second son. What is a bigger miracle than that? This tiny, yummy baby that yesterday had no identification and was totally an unknown to us, including his gender, is now a vibrant member of the Eisenberg/Glick clan.
Do we really have to go so far back as Chanukah?
We watched a documentary recently about children born with cleft lips and palates. For years they were shunned by society. No one wanted to look at them and often they were categorized as retarded. Today, in a surgical procedure that takes approximately one hour, the lip and palate are redesigned. The stigma removed. Another nes.
There are the stories of those who were scheduled to travel on a specific airplane and at the last minute curtailed their plans. Lo and behold the plane was involved in a horrific accident.
During a Montreal ice storm almost 17 years ago the city was paralyzed. Up to two and a half inches of ice covered the city. Many areas of the city were out of power and water. Close friends of ours whose house was almost totally devastated by fire due to a transformer blowing were fortunately not at home. Another nes.
Story after story can be told by any of us of miracles that we have all heard of or encountered. They need not be that dramatic. How did a young yeshiva bochur from Malden, Massachusetts, meet a young girl from Jericho, Long Island, and create a lifetime of passion and togetherness?
Granted, there are nissim that work the other way. What about those who innocently took that plane that crashed? What about those people who were sleeping when their house caught fire and they were not able to get out? We believe that we are here to appreciate the miracles that we are in wonderment over as well as those that hurt us and make no sense. In believing in Hashem we trust in His judgment and are grateful for all that we are given, sometimes a difficult task. This week, the miracle of Chanukah is with us and we will celebrate. Chag Urim Sameach!
By Rabbi Mordechai and Nina Glick
