If something good happens to you — make something of it!

“Then I’ll complete with a song of mizmor, the Chanukas HaMizbeiach.” (Maoz Tzur)

WE

generally commemorate two nissim on Chanukah: the oil, and the victory. But the Rema adds another: Chanukas HaMizbeiach.

The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 52b) says that the Yevanim desecrated all the Keilim of the Beis Hamikdash. Therefore, they had to build a new Mizbeiach. Yet the Rambam says that on the 25th of Kislev they were still fighting. Although they won the war that day, there was no time then for building a Mizbeiach. So what Chanukas Hamizbeiach is the Rema referring to? (Rav Yisrael Reisman, Shiurim al Chumash)

It doesn’t take much to transport me back to that winter morning, Chanukah 2011. The ambulance was speeding along, its sirens wailing, as it navigated snarled traffic en route to the hospital. I was alone in the back with only the Arab attendant, my husband waiting for me at the hospital.

I was petrified, my hands shaking as I sat on the stretcher and I gripped its sides as the ambulance swung in a tight turn. I was only in my eighth month and already in labor. Hurry! Hurry! I pressed my feet against the floor as if I was flooring the gas pedal.

I can’t lose this baby. I can’t. Baby! Baby, I’ve carried you and loved you and please, hang on a little bit more. You’re going to be fine. Please, baby. Be fine.

Then I was there, my husband waiting for me, and I was rushed into an emergency birth. I got one quick glimpse of my precious boy before they whisked him up to the NICU… ruddy cheeks, dark eyes. My baby. He was alive.

To answer, I’ll tell you a lesson I learned from Rav Pam. When a person gets married, why doesn’t he make a shehecheyanu at his chasunah? Answers Rav Pam, when a person gets married, he doesn’t know yet if it’s going to be good. Marriage is what you make of it.

Similarly, Rav Moshe points out that if you look at the names of Moshe Rabbeinu’s children, they seem out of order. The older son is named Gershom, as Moshe was a stranger in a distant land. The second was Eliezer because Hashem saved him from the sword of Pharaoh. Why are these two incidents inverted?

Answered Rav Moshe, when a miracle happens to you, is it good or bad? It depends what you make of it. Had Moshe been saved from Pharaoh but then assimilated in a foreign land, the miracle of Pharaoh would’ve been worthless. It was only after he made something good of it that he could then give thanks for the salvation from Pharaoh.

The first few weeks were hard. I traveled daily to the NICU and spent hours at my baby’s side. I’d stroke his downy cheek and whisper words of love into his ears. He had his bris at one month old, and despite his early birth, gained nicely and reached developmental milestones on time. When he turned a year, I wanted to make a seudas hoda’ah. Baruch Hashem for a healthy, normal, no-longer preemie baby! What a neis!

Sometimes people tell me, “You’ll never believe what a miracle happened to me!”

Then I ask, “Nu? What’s the end of the story? The beginning of the story is that something miraculous happened to you. But what did you do with it? It’s only worth something if something positive comes from it.”

Yes, there were miracles on Chanukah. But Klal Yisrael, what are you going to do with them? They went and built a Mizbeiach, putting their celebration into something worthwhile. Once that happened, then the other miracles are worth celebrating. If something good happens to you — make something of it!

This Chanukah will mark another incredible milestone. B’ezras Hashem, we’ll be celebrating Yitzi’s bar mitzvah. When I went with him to buy his hat, I almost burst into tears. My Yitzi, with the widest, most beautiful heart in the world. My Yitzi, with his funny comments and zesty spirit. My Yitzi is now all grown up, so mature and handsome in his new suit and hat.

I listen to him practice his leining, and I offer up heartfelt thanks. Thank You, Hashem, for the neis of that Chanukah morning 13 years ago that brought us here to the zechus of bringing up a son to the age of mitzvos. Onward! To his chuppah, b’ezras Hashem!

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 924)