מאי חנוכה דתנו רבנן בכ"ה בכסליו יומי דחנוכה תמניא אינון דלא למספד בהון ודלא להתענות בהון שכשנכנסו יוונים להיכל טמאו כל השמנים שבהיכל וכשגברה מלכות בית חשמונאי ונצחום בדקו ולא מצאו אלא פך אחד של שמן שהיה מונח בחותמו של כהן גדול ולא היה בו אלא להדליק יום אחד נעשה בו נס והדליקו ממנו שמונה ימים לשנה אחרת קבעום ועשאום ימים טובים בהלל והודאה
What is Chanukkah, that our Sages taught: On the 25th of Kislev - the days of Chanukkah, they are eight, not to eulogize on them and not to fast on them? When the Greeks entered the Temple, they polluted all the oils in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked and they found but one cruse of oil that was set in place with the seal of the High Priest, but there was in it only [enough] to light a single day. A miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year [the Sages] fixed those [days], making them holidays for praise and thanksgiving.
Al Hanisim (from the Siddur)
"We thank You also for the miraculous deeds and for the redemption and for the mighty deeds and the saving acts wrought by You, as well as for the wars which You waged for our ancestors in ancient days at this season. In the days of the Hasmonean Mattathias, son of Johanan the high priest, and his sons, when the iniquitous Greco-Syrian kingdom rose up against Your people Israel, to make them forget Your Torah and to turn them away from the ordinances of Your will, then You in your abundant mercy rose up for them in the time of their trouble, pled their cause, executed judgment, avenged their wrong, and delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and insolent ones into the hands of those occupied with Your Torah. Both unto Yourself did you make a great and holy name in Thy world, and unto Your people did You achieve a great deliverance and redemption. Whereupon your children entered the sanctuary of Your house, cleansed Your temple, purified Your sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courts, and appointed these eight days of Hanukkah in order to give thanks and praises unto Your holy name."
על הניסים (מסידור התפילה)
על הניסים ועל הפורקן ועל הגבורות ועל התשועות ועל המלחמות שעשית לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה. בימי מתיתיהו בן יוחנן, כהן גדול, חשמונאי, כשעמדה מלכות יוון הרשעה על עמך ישראל להשכיחם תורתך ולהעבירם מחוקי רצונך. ואתה, ברחמך הרבים, עמדת להם בעת צרתם, רבת את ריבם, דנת את דינם, נקמת את נקמתם. מסרת גיבורים ביד חלשים ורבים ביד מעטים וטמעים ביד טהורים ורשעים ביד צדיקים וזדים ביד עוסקי תורתך ולך עשית שם גדול וקדוש בעולמך ולעמך ישראל עשית תשועה גדולה ופורקן כהיום הזה ואחר כן באו בניך לדביר ביתך ופניו את היכלך וטיהרו את מקדשיך והדליקו נרות בחצרות קודשך וקבעו שמונת ימי חנוכה אלו להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול
Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays
The miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances will hardly balk at the turning of water into wine — which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.
Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky, the Slonimer Rebbe (1911-2000)
The essence of the Greek war to destroy the Jews was by means of darkening the eyes of Israel. The Greeks knew that they would not be able to successfully defeat the Jews by military means--rather only by darkening their eyes...
There are people who, despite the fact that they involve themselves with Torah and the service of God, walk in darkness. These people do not perceive light and are considered [spiritually] dead. The purpose of human beings is that they see with a clear lens the Divine light which shines within all Creation. As we find in the origins of Creation, ‘and the earth was unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep...and God said, Let there be light; and there was light. God saw that the light was good...’(Gen. 1:2-4) This light was not physical light, but rather Divine light...
Within a glimpse of this light, a person sees the strength of the Creator within all of Creation. [With this vision] a person does not perceive a separated world in which all things are disunited. Rather, [a person sees that] everything is One and that a singular elevated power sustains everything. [When a person sees with this vision] there is no longer any place for ‘unformed and void and darkness.’ And this is the essence of the Greek war--that they darkened the eyes of Israel.
אֵל בָּרוּךְ נְעִימות יִתֵּנוּ. לְמֶּלֶךְ אֵל חַי וְקַיָּם זְמִירות יאמֵרוּ וְתִשְׁבָּחות יַשְׁמִיעוּ. כִּי הוּא לְבַדּו פּועֵל גְּבוּרות. עושה חֲדָשׁות. בַּעַל מִלְחָמות. זורֵעַ צְדָקות. מַצְמִיחַ יְשׁוּעות. בּורֵא רְפוּאות. נורָא תְהִלּות. אֲדון הַנִּפְלָאות. הַמְחַדֵּשׁ בְּטוּבו בְּכָל יום תָּמִיד מַעֲשה בְרֵאשִׁית. כָּאָמוּר לְעשה אורִים גְּדלִים. כִּי לְעולָם חַסְדּו. אור חָדָשׁ עַל צִיּון תָּאִיר וְנִזְכֶּה כֻלָּנוּ מְהֵרָה לְאורו. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', יוצֵר הַמְּאורות.
They offer adulation to YWVH, whom they bless. They chant and voice their praise to the sovereign, the living and enduring One. For YHWV alone achieves victory, creates anew, masters war, sows righteousness, cultivates deliverance, effects healing, is praised with reverence, and is the author of wonders. Through God's goodness, the work of Creation is renewed each day...
Albert Einstein
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.