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The “festival of lights” is upon us, and I’m hoping for a Hannukah miracle to get all of the hostages back from Hamas and a quick end to the war. This doesn’t mean I’m expecting any divine intervention, as our notion of a “Hannukah miracle” is a bit ironic, and a bit of an overstatement to characterize what we’re actually celebrating on our winter holiday.
For the miracle-in-question isn’t the unlikely victory of the Maccabee brothers in 164 BCE, when they won the right to be-Jewish in ancient Judea against the far superior Seleucid army who desecrated our Second Temple in Jerusalem (yes, we really are indigenous to the Holy Land, and the Greeks tried to Hellenize us [epic fail]).
We don’t recall that military victory as a story of divine will, but instead as a battle won through faith, resilience, and a good amount of luck—kinda the general formula for our survival over the somewhat genocidal arc of Jewish history. And if you’re thinking: “but how did we recover from our monumentally shitty history?,” then Lest we Forget: the Maccabees were also hip to the kaneh bosem (a pious group of rebels), and traces of THC have been found on the site of ancient shrines all over Israel.
Returning to the real “Hannukah miracle” that occurred only after the Maccabees’ improbable victory, when one of the brothers found just a little bit of oil left in the (defiled) Temple. The wonder of this oil is that it lasted longer than expected —8 days—and this duration was just long enough to keep the lights on so that we could clean and rededicate the Temple without delay, before new oil could be made on the 9th day post-battle. (Isn’t this—technically—more “coincidence” than “miracle?”)
I don’t know if the irony is lost on non-Jews, but the Hannukah “miracle” certainly shows that we curb our expectations when it comes to the Holy One intervening in our affairs. It’s not that we’re cynical, but rather take our free will quite seriously, as well as the Jewish insistence on individual responsibility and tikkun olam; acting in a way that helps repair the world so that no one—ever—lives in fear. 
In this effort Jews have always relied on the herb to chill, reflect and enhance our freedom to choose with a little abstract thought about values and options. I know this year many of us feel the weight of what is usually one of our happier holidays (no fasting or restrictions!), as we once again defend Jewish culture and the right to live in our ancestral homeland. The good news is that there’s no need to moderate your consumption on Hannukah and—truth be told—I’m going to smoke and play some dreidel like it’s Purim for a week.
