Access the miracle

*How do we access the miracle of the Chashmonaim in our lives?*
The secret of their success was that they realized that although they must physically go out to war, they in essence had no power of their own to win it.

**A person has to be honest with himself, says Rav Zamir Cohen.**
Does he rely on anything else other than H'shem? If one "uses" means such as a job, doctors, army but does not rely on them, he can access the same miracles as the Chashmonaim that produced the Chanukah miracle. We disconnect ourselves from the possibility of having a miracle happen when we switch our reliance to outside sources other than H'shem's trust. **You can "use" everything but trust only in H'shem**.

**A person who manages to do this has now risen to the level above nature. To the point that even if he has "Gezeirot Kashot" over his head, says Rav Cohen, they will be annulled.** 

H'shem reacts to someone's trust in kind: "If you only trust in Me, I won't disappoint you. If you trust in Me and rely on others, you will be judged according to your good and bad deeds and behaviors." The entire time you act as though you are getting along "fine" without Him, He allows you to live at the level of Teva, nature. But if you only trust in H'shem, He will respond by lifting you up above the level of nature.

Rav Pincus z"l explains the mechanics of trust like this: We live in a physical world - how do we constantly focus on "Shiviti H'shem L'negdi Tamid?" (H'shem is before me always). When a small child walks along with his father holding his hand, he sees the world and all the scary uncertain things in it, but there is no one more secure in the world than that child holding his father's hand. The child, just as we are, is aware of everything around him.
**Live life but remember you are always holding H'shem's hand. This is how the Chashmonaim went out to war against an impossible army and won.**

This is the same salvation we can hang on to and see miracles. If you see like Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa that nature is also a miracle, then H'shem will behave with you the same. H'shem is your shadow - as you behave with Him, He will behave with you.

**Every day, put aside 10 minutes or longer to sit with yourself and H'shem**. Tell Him what you're going through and how you're struggling to rely only on Him. If you do this regularly, you will not only grow your emunah and bitachon, H'shem will lift you up above your troubles.

Photo by Liane Metzler on Unsplash