The story of the miracle of Chanukah is familiar to us all. From the time we are first introduced to the holiday, we envision, in one way or another, the lights of the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash burning for eight days instead of the expected one. We often tend to view this as a very overt, public miracle, announcing Hashem's greatness to the world. In reality, however, it would appear that not many people actually witnessed this miracle. After all, the Menorah stood in one of the inner sections of the Beis HaMikdash and was simply not seen by most people. The miracle of the oil, therefore, was in fact a more "private" miracle.

This idea becomes even more interesting when one considers that one of the dominant themes of Chanukah is the idea of "Pirsumei Nissa", the requirement to publicize the miracle. We are enjoined by Chazal to mark this private miracle in a very public fashion - by lighting our candles where they can be seen by as many people as possible. The lesson seems to be that when it comes to thanking Hashem, another dominant theme of this holiday of "hallel and hoda'ah", we must consider not only the public but the private kindnesses of Hashem as well.

In a certain sense, it may be that the miracle of Chanukah comes to remind us of the every day miracles which we all enjoy, perhaps without even realizing it. Hashem's hand should be seen not only behind events like Keriyas Yam Suf or the falling of the Mon in the desert, but also in less public events. Although we do not generally tend to think of Chanukah as symbolizing a private miracle, it will perhaps remind us that even when we do not see clearly what Hashem is doing for us, He is there anyway. And it is specifically regarding His role in these less public affairs that we have to acknowledge and indeed publicize what has taken place. It thus behooves us all, as we prepare to celebrate Chanukah, to look at our own lives and examine those events which may not be well known to others, but for which we must thank Hashem nonetheless.