The joyous dedication of the second Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) on the site of the 1st Temple in Jerusalem, was celebrated on the 3rd of Adar of the year 3412 from creation (349 BCE), after four years of work.
The First Temple, built by King Solomon in 833 BCE, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 423 BCE. At that time, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied: "Thus says the L-rd: After seventy years for Babylon will I visit you... and return you to this place." In 371 the Persian emperor Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Judah and rebuild the Temple, but the construction was halted the next year when the Samarians persuaded Cyrus to withdraw permission. Achashverosh II (of Purim fame) upheld the moratorium. Only in 353 -- exactly 70 years after the destruction -- did the building of the Temple resume under Darius II.
Link: The Holy Temple
R. Mordechai Jaffe served as the rabbi of numerous communities in Poland and Lithuania. Among his more well-known works are Levush Malchut,a halachic code following the order of R. Jacob ben Asher’s Arbaah Turim, and Levush HaOrah,a super-commentary to R. Shlomo Yitzchaki’s Torah commentary. R. Mordechai served as the head of the “Council of Four Lands,” the government-sanctioned Jewish organization entrusted with dealing with Jewish communal affairs. In addition to Talmud and Jewish law, R. Mordechai was also well-versed in both Kabbalah and astronomy.
He passed away on 3 Adar II.
Link: Rabbi Mordechai Jaffe
Without miracles, we might come to believe that the laws of physics define reality. Once we witness the inexplicable, we see that it’s not a closed system, that there is a higher reality.
And then we look back at physics and say, “This too is a miracle.”
The miracle of a small flask of oil burning for eight days was this sort of miracle. The combustion of oil and oxygen generated light, and yet the quantity of oil did not diminish.
Then there are those small miracles that occur every day, those acts of synchronicity we call “coincidence,” because in them G‑d prefers to remain incognito, leaving all the laws of nature intact.
Indeed, that is an even greater miracle, that G‑d can achieve whatever He so desires non-invasively, as though He weren’t even there.
These were the sort of miracles the tiny band of Maccabees saw in their battles against the mighty Greek army. They fought bravely, but in their hearts they knew a great miracle happened here.
So too, when we open our eyes and hearts, we ponder those everyday coincidences and we awaken to the realization that there is truly no place void of this wondrous, unlimited G‑d.