Your Complete Guide to the Laws of Chanukah

The Ideal

• The central mitzvah of Chanukah is the kindling of the הכונח תורנ each night. While the basic mitzvah is for each household to kindle only one רנ per night, the preferred way is to light one the first night and add a רנ each night of Chanukah.¹

• Women are obligated in the mitzvah of lighting neiros Chanukah. The Gemara writes that this is because they were included in the miracle. This means they were also saved from the evil decrees of the Greeks, and furthermore, a woman, Yehudis, played a prominent role as a liberator.

• When a woman lights the menorah, she recites a berachah On all nights she recites L’hadlik Ner Shel Chanukah and She’asah Nissim. On the first night alone she adds the berachah of Shehechiyanu

Married Women and Single Girls

• A married woman fulfills the mitzvah with her husband’s lighting. Customs vary regarding whether a single girl lights on her own or fulfills her obligation with her father. If she doesn’t light on her own, she should be there and answer Amein to her father’s berachah. This is generally the accepted custom.

• The Gemara is clear that olive oil is the ideal choice for fuel for הכונח תורנ because it produces the clearest flame.² Most poskim therefore rule that olive oil is best.³ Nowadays, with the availability of relatively inexpensive, highquality olive oils that produce very clear flames, you should certainly opt for superior olive oil.⁴

• If you use wax, you should make sure to specifically use long or thick (thick) candles because while wax melts pretty quickly, Chanukah candles need to last at least half an hour after nightfall.

• On תבש, when you have to light well before sunset, the candles are going to end up needing to last about an hour and 15 minutes.

Where to Light

• Initially, people would light their הכונח outside. The Gemara says that הכונח תורנ are lit at the front entrance to your property, with the הזוזמ to the right of the door (facing the house) and the הכונח to its left.

• Then there came a period, still during the time of the Gemara, when the Jews were banned from kindling הכונח תורנ outside, and so due to הנכס, danger, people lit them on the tables inside their homes. In other words, the אסינ ימוּסרִפ shifted from publicizing the Chanukah miracle for passersby to primarily publicizing the miracle for the members of one’s own household.⁵

► There is some controversy as to where a yeshiva student should light הכונח תורנ. Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach say that he should light them in his dormitory, while the Chazon Ish, Rav Aharon Kotler, and Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky rule that he should light them in the yeshiva dining room. The significant, overriding factor in choosing a location to kindle הכונח תורנ in an institutional setting is the halachic principle of ימח ארוסיאמ אתנכס אר danger is stricter than injunction, and the yeshiva administration must be consulted as to safety preferences.⁶

When to Light

• The optimal time to light הכונח תורנ is the matter of debate. According to the Vilna Gaon it begins at sunset,⁷ while, according to most, it commences at nightfall (which we assume to be approximately 20–25 minutes after sunset). According to all, the optimal time continues for half an hour after it begins.⁸

• Though it’s not preferred, the earliest time to light הכונח תורנ candles is החנמה גלפ, roughly an hour before sunset.

• Nowadays, since people are out late, we can light later than the optimal time, too. How late? We assume that one may light as long as people are generally outside, which depends upon where you live (city, suburb, etc.).

• If you haven’t kindled הכונח תורנ and come home really late, when the streets are long empty, you may still light, as long as it is before dawn. However, the Mishnah Brurah writes that you should wake up a household member to

הכונח תורנ in Shul

• It is customary to light הכונח תורנ in shul each night of Chanukah between Mincha and Maariv. The הכונח תורנ should be placed in a prominent position on the south side of the shul, to commemorate the miracle of the menorah in the שדקמה תיב, which was on the south side of the heichal.¹⁵

• Whoever lights the candles in the shul recites the תוכרב, even if he already said them when lighting at home. Similarly, if he is going to see the הכונח תורנ so that you may light with a ⁹.הכרב

How to Light הכונח תורנ make it to Mincha.

• When setting up your הכונח תורנ, you should first put the rightmost רנ into place, and then set the rest up moving right to left. When lighting them, however, you light the one furthest to your left and then proceed to kindle left to right.

• If the shamash is at one end of your הכונח תורנ, it’s better to keep the shamash to your left so that it is farther from the תורנ, making it easier to tell what night it is.

• If you are using oil הכונח תורנ with an oil shamash which you leave in place (and light with a wax candle), you should light the shamash last. If you are using a wax shamash you can light the shamash first since you use it to light the other candles.

• If you go to someone’s house for הכונח תבש and it’s too difficult to bring your הכונח תורנ with you, you should chip in and be ףתתשמ, participate, in their תורנ

• If you are away for הכונח תבש and are returning home after תבש, where do you light on תבש יאצומ הכונח? On the one hand, you should light at your hosts’ house because you will be there at the right time. On the other hand, though, you won’t be staying there that night.

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach holds that you should light at your host’s house and remain there for half an light at home after Maariv, he says the תוכרב at shul and then repeats them at home. The exception to this, though, is ונייחהש, recited on the first night of Chanukah. It should be recited only once, at the first lighting.

• To further publicize the miracle, the custom is that the הכונח תורנ are lit in shul each morning of Chanukah for the duration of davening, but without a bracha.

הכונח תבש

• On Friday night, you light Chanukah candles before תבש candles. That means that you need to light them before 20 minutes before sunset. They will have to last past sunset and nightfall, until a half hour after nightfall.

• Many customarily daven an early Mincha on Friday afternoon of Chanukah so that they don’t need to rush to light the candles and hour after lighting.¹⁶ This is especially true if you will be going somewhere else on your way home (out to eat, visit friends, etc.).

• There are two accepted customs regarding הכונח תבש יאצומ: Some light הכונח before Havdalah, while others first recite Havdalah and then light הכונח

.

• Rav Shlomo Zalman would rule that even someone who normally waits 72 minutes after sunset to do הכאלמ on תבש יאצומ should light הכונח earlier on

הכ. He reasons that waiting for nightfall of Rabbeinu Tam is only a stringency and wasn’t accepted in this case. Rav Shlomo Zalman himself regularly waited 72 minutes and yet would light on ומ only 35–40 minutes after sunset.¹⁷

Thank you to Halpern Center Press, for granting permission to adapt some of the content in this section from Halacha 24/7/12 by R’ Aharon E. Marcus.