Natural Miracles

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev pointed out that we say the blessing "Blessed are You...who made miracles..." only on the festivals of Chanukah and Purim; on Passover this blessing is not recited. He explained that one reason for this difference is that there are two kinds of miracles. There are miracles that transcend the laws of nature, such as the Ten Plagues and the Splitting of the Reed Sea, and there are also miracles that occur within nature.

For example, on Chanukah, when Judith, the High Priest's daughter, enticed the enemy general, Holofernes, and served him dairy dishes. He got very thirsty, she gave him lots of wine, he slept, and she beheaded him, destroying the morale of his troops and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. This was an amazing miracle, yet it was made up of events that all occurred within the matrix of natural phenomena.

This, then, is why on Chanukah we say the blessing "Who made miracles for our ancestors in those days, in this time" - for then the miracle happened within natural time. On Pesach, though, the miracles were made directly by G-d, outside of space and time, and for that reason we don't make this blessing, for the miracle was above nature.

This also serves to explain why the "natural" miracles of Chanukah and Purim had to take place through women. The relationship of our physical world to G-d is that of " receiver-giver" (mekabel-mashpia), which is also a paradigm for the feminine-masculine polar forces. Since the Chanukah and Purim miracles occurred within nature, and the world stands as "receiver" in relation to G-d, they came about through women, who also symbolize the aspect of "receiver"/mekabel.

Shabbat Shalom & Happy Chanuka! Shaul

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