Q&A: Does the Rabbi think my claim is historically correct?
Does the Rabbi think my claim is historically correct?
Question
I have an interesting solution to the Beit Yosef's question. The Beit Yosef asks: "Why do we celebrate Hanukkah for 8 days? If the oil was enough for 1 day, that means it burned naturally for 1 day, and then the miracle was only for 7 days, so we should celebrate 7 days." (Medieval authorities such as the Rosh and the Meiri asked this before him, though apparently he did not have their works before him.)
There have been countless answers to this question, but I raised a historical hypothesis that I think solves the problem, though I'm not sure it's accurate, and I'd be happy to hear your opinion:
"It seems to me, without in-depth research, that the Beit Yosef's question points to a deep worldview gap between the conception of reality in the period of the Sages and that of the medieval authorities, and especially Rabbi Yosef Karo. It is not at all clear that the concept of 'the way of nature' was clear and meaningful to the Sages; from their perspective, all of reality was one continuous miracle. Out of this outlook grew blessings such as 'Who brings forth bread from the earth' and 'Who creates the fruit of the tree,' which attribute natural and human processes to the hand of God. By contrast, the conception of the medieval authorities and Rabbi Yosef Karo rests on the philosophy and natural science of the Greeks and their heirs, according to which there are laws of nature detached from divine intervention, and any such intervention is considered a deviation from the natural order. Therefore, it seems to me that the question stems from the gap between the two conceptions, but this topic requires deeper and more careful research."
Answer
Very unlikely. According to that, we would have to recite a blessing over everything that happens: a tree growing in the yard, the sun rising, a neighbor saying good morning, and so on. The institution of Hanukkah candles was established because of a miracle.
It seems to me the answer is simple: we are not celebrating the miracle; we are celebrating because there was a miracle. What we are really celebrating is God's will as expressed in the event, and God's will was that the menorah should burn for eight days, because if He had wanted it to burn for seven, He would have made a miracle that it burn for only six more days… The reason we establish a holiday only when a miracle happens is that the miracle indicates that what happened here was God's will—enough to justify paying the price of breaking the laws of nature (and therefore the event is worthy of being marked, just as God made it present in the world, so too do we). That is, if the oil had been enough for four days and the miracle had only been for four additional days, we would still celebrate eight days. The reason we don't celebrate things that happen naturally even though they too are God's will is that God would not "trouble Himself" to make a miracle there in order for the thing to happen if it would not have happened otherwise. A miracle basically testifies: this thing is happening at all costs, whether or not it was possible within reality. And perhaps God even makes sure that, from the side of reality itself, the thing will not happen in order to testify this to us (as He hardened Pharaoh's heart so that we would reach the plague of the firstborn and celebrate Passover and several other commandments).