Let the secular Jewish media have their fun and games with this year’s rare confluence of Chanukah and Thanksgiving. Let them enjoy their “Thanksgivuka” and their recipes for cranberry-filled and turkey-stuffed sufganiot. And let Israel’s major stores driving under the influence of the West festoon themselves in “Chanukah” banners and streamers in red and green like Macy’s in New York during December. Learned and confident Jews have more self-respect than to be distracted by such inanities.

Let us then take a mature look at this lovely and popular festival. It has been frequently noted that the daily siddur contains a somewhat different emphasis of the Chanukah story from that in the Talmud (Shabbos 21b). The al hanissim prayer in the siddur celebrates the physical victory but makes no direct reference to — rather only hints at — the miracle of the tiny cruse of oil burning for eight days. The Talmud’s version on the other hand celebrates the miracle of the oil but makes no direct reference to — rather only hints at — the physical victory of the Chashmonaim.

The different emphasis is a subject of much discussion and beyond the scope of this column. But it is noteworthy that these two accounts though different from one another each conclude with the identical statement: that the festival was established l’hodos u’l’hallel — to “praise and thank/acknowledge” G-d. (See there how Rashi ties the two versions together but note the different order of words in each conclusion. The key point is that both the siddur and the Gemara make praising and thanking the centerpiece of the celebration.

It is clear that the siddur deals with the idea of nes nistar a hidden miracle the kind that is not accompanied by peals of thunder and flashes of lightning that cannot be overlooked. It is the daily ordinary miracles that sustain us the kind that the Amidah (in the modim prayer that immediately preceds al hanissim) refers to as “Nisecha shebechal yom imanu — Thy miracles that are with us every day.” The Talmud by contrast in emphasizing the oil focuses on the neis nigleh the indisputable miracle of the oil burning for eight days.

That we would thank G-d for an open miracle is obvious. But to thank Him for the daily hidden miracles — even to acknowledge that they are in fact miracles — that is much less obvious. The siddur’s al hanissim beyond its focus on Chanukah pokes us in the ribs and alerts us to look for the ubiquitous hidden miracles that surround us and sustain us — supernatural transcending miracles clothed in ordinary garb: friendship love family kindness the miracles of sight and of hearing the ability to learn and read and pray. The list is endless but because they are daily we overlook their transcendent nature. The al hanissim prayer reminds us to thank and acknowledge G-d for the neis nistar the ordinary common — and therefore overlooked — daily miracles.

Whether the miracle is open or hidden the focus of Chanukah is on things spiritual. Sufganiot and latkes are fine (if you don’t mind getting a touch of indigestion) but it is worth noting that there is no religious obligation to have a festive meal during Chanukah.

The true meaning of Chanukah is exemplified by the fire of the menorah. Fire is not an independent self-sufficient entity. It requires fuel. The flame of the menorah sustains itself only as long there is oil in the receptacle that fuels the flame. Similarly the universe sustains itself only because there is a G-d Who fuels the universe and renews it constantly just as the flickering flame constantly renews itself from one second to the next as we recite daily during Shacharis: “hamechadesh b’tuvo … in His goodness He renews daily the act of Creation …”

Furthermore the number eight so central to the Chanukah miracle is not a coincidence. Eight is the number of transcendence a step beyond seven that represents the number of days it took to create the natural world. That step into “eight” transports us into another realm — the realm of the supernatural and of miracles.

Dreidels are fun latkes are delicious the menorah is beautiful and the festival is a joy to experience. But through it all it helps to remember that there is more to Chanukah than meets the eye — or the stomach.