People in search of a Chanukah miracle this season need look no further than their own backyard or DIAs,to be exact. Last Saturday night (the night before Chanukah), a Continental Airlines jet bound for Houston struck a berm, lifted off slightly, hit the ground, veered 2,000 feet off the runway and skidded sharply into a shallow, snowy ravine. A fire raged inside and outside the plane.
In subsequent photos, the Boeing 737-500 lies broken and lifeless, an enormous whale beached in frozen earth. Although the investigation is just beginning and no one can say exactly what caused the accident, officials and passengers alike agree it was a miracle that no one died. Somehow, as flames and fear spread through the plane, 115 passengers and crew managed to crawl to safety through the emergency exits. Thirty-eight people were injured, one seriously, but no one perished. Thats pretty miraculous.
Maria Trejos, who is four months pregnant, was sitting with her husband and one-year-old son. She told the AP, Iwas thinking, I dont want to burn. I dont want my baby or my husband to burn. The Trejos family scrambled onto a wing and slid to the ground. Instead of going to Houston, they went to Pueblo. Its going to be the best Christmas ever, she said.
Jews recite a prayer when they survive a danger: Blessed are You, our G-d, King of the universe, Who bestows good things upon the guilty, Who has bestowed every goodness upon me.
Saturday night at DIA, prayers of different faiths flew up to the heavens, warming the bitter cold night with gratitude, disbelief and faith.
As you saw what happened on TV or read about it the next morning, you probably paused to say, Thank G-d. Thats the shortest prayer on record, uttered by all who recognize the innate dangers in life.
Some attribute lifes reprieves to random good fortune, others praise G-d. Conventional wisdom dictates that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Calling something miraculous surely sounds too good to be true but it isnt. Heres to Chanukah miracles, now and always.
