Here is our last Chanukah 5785 installment. Looking back, we can imagine what a Chanukah miracle would look like today.

In the original Chanukah miracle, there was a “miracle multiplier factor” of eight. That is, originally there was only enough oil for one lighting and it miraculously became enough for eight times that amount.

In our days, if someone only had enough oil for just one candle, he or she would need a much bigger miracle multiplier factor. They would need a miracle multiplier factor of 44 because we light a total of 36 candles throughout Chanukah and then eight more for the shamash each night. You can calculate this from the equation 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+8=44.

Imagine the following scenario with a miracle multiplier factor of eight:

For Chanukah 5785, David did not have enough candles to light for Chanukah. He only had a few and he could not find any stores near him selling candles. Then, the day before Chanukah, he got a package of candles mailed to him from a distant cousin he never met. Altogether, he now had eight times the number of candles he started with. It was enough to light the menorah for all eight nights of Chanukah, including the shamash. David realized that a multiplier factor of eight would not have helped enough if he had started with fewer candles.

How many candles did David start with and how many nights could he light with them?

Solution: David had six candles and was only able to light for the first two nights. With a miracle multiplier factor of eight, he would need at least six candles to start. This is because 5×8=40, which is less than 44, but 6×8=48, which is greater than 44. Six candles is enough for the first two nights with a shamash for each and one candle let over. As an equation that’s `1+1+2+1+1=6.

I hope you have an enjoyable Chanukah 5785. Shabbat Shalom!

Ari Blinder is a math educator living in Highland Park, NJ and the owner of Math for the Masses, an innovative math tutoring and consulting company. For more information, visit https://www.math4masses.com. Ari can be reached at [email protected].