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Thought for the Day: Yes, Eight Days of Channukah, Eight Days of Miraculous Oil

There is a famous question, oft attributed to the Beis Yosef, but asked by others as well. The question goes like this: One may ask regarding Chanuka, since there was enough oil for one day, then why do we celebrate eight days of miracle? People adore this question. I have heard there is a book with over 100 answers. The problem for me is/was that the Gemara (Shabbos 23a) says (as Rashi so eloquently explains) that the miracle was that they lit oil from the jug all eight nights. The implication, then, is that the question is based on a mistake. How could the Beis Yosef ask that question when the gemara says straight out that it was eight days of miraculous oil?

The wonderful thing about learning in a kollel is that I had lots of talmidei chachamim to whom I could address my question to get some insight into what I was missing. As the discussion went on, it was clear I had never seen the question inside. One of my chaverim said, "It sounds like it is time you saw it!" He found it for me. Then another chaver found a תוספות הרא"ש (Shabbos 21b) that looks like an earlier source for the same question. A light bulb slowly started flickering in my mind. There are two kinds of questions: (1) a new insight is being revealed; the question is the doorway to that insight. (2) there is a misunderstanding and the question reveals where the disconnect is. This famous question seems to be more the latter.

The תוספות הרא"ש reveals the misunderstanding by playing out how this would work.
  1. One eighth of the oil was poured into the menorah each night. (תוספות הרא"ש explains why that is permitted; not our topic just now.)  Since the oil burned the entire night each night, the miracle was evident even on the first day.
  2. The menorah was filled completely on the first day, but each day the oil level only went down by 1/8 of the what it did usually.  Again, the miracle is evident even on the first day.
  3. The menorah was filled completely on the first day, but the jug miraculously remained full. Again, the miracle was evident even on the first day.
So we've cleared that up. One little issue. Not a misunderstanding this time, rather an extrapolation that requires some thought. The first two possible scenarios are just fine and we've tied up all the loose ends. The third possibility, though, begs the question of what happened on the eighth day. If the jug was now empty, then we have just shifted the question from the first to the eighth night. (Thank you, secret morning chavrusa.) If the jug was still full... then why don't we celebrate nine (ten, eleven, twelve, ...?) days of miracle oil?

The answer to that lies in appreciating the difference between "nature" and "miraculous". Given that HaShem created and runs the world, why do we call some of His workings miraculous and others natural. Long story short: If it happens once, then it's a miracle. If it happens repeatedly and regularly as expected, then it's nature. Simple as that. If the just stopped refilling when other oil was available, that clearly shows that all oil burning is a miracle just waiting to happen. If the jug continued to refill, now -- as of the eighth day, which is one past nature -- this is repeating and expected; it is nature.

Either way, the eighth day is a beautiful celebration of the miracles that occur around us and for us each and every moment of each and every day -- 24/7.
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