The Vinegar Miracle

The Vinegar Miracle

Rabi Chanina ben Dosa noticed one Erev Shabbos that his daughter was depressed. He said to her, “My daughter! What has made you sad?”

She said, “I mistook the jug of vinegar for one of oil, and so I filled the Shabbos candelabra with vinegar and lit it [and the lights will go out momentarily, leaving us in the dark].”

Rabi Chanina said, “My daughter, why do you care which fuel you used? He Who told oil to burn will tell this vinegar to burn.”

The braisa teaches that this candelabra burned through the entire next day, until they used it to kindle another candle for Havdalah.

(Taanis 25a)