{"id":5860,"date":"2010-02-12T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2010-02-11T23:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=5860"},"modified":"2017-07-16T13:05:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-16T10:05:18","slug":"05-12-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-12-01\/","title":{"rendered":"01. The Mitzva to Light \u0124anuka Candles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Sages ordained lighting candles<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">*<\/a> all eight days of \u0124anuka, which correspond to the days on which the Jewish people celebrated and praised God for helping them defeat the Greeks, liberate Jerusalem, and purify the Holy Temple. It was on those days that the oil in the Temple\u2019s <em>Menora<\/em> burned miraculously.<\/p>\n<p>Even though lighting \u0124anuka candles is a rabbinic mitzva, we recite a <em>berakha<\/em> over it: \u201c<em>Barukh ata Hashem Elokeinu Melekh ha-olam asher kideshanu be-mitzvotav ve-tzivanu lehadlik ner [shel] \u0124anuka<\/em>\u201d (\u201cBlessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His <em>mitzvot<\/em> and commanded us to light \u0124anuka candles\u201d). One could seemingly ask: How can we say that God \u201ccommanded us\u201d when the Written Torah does not contain such a commandment? The answer is that the Torah gives the Sages the authority to institute <em>mitzvot<\/em> within the guidelines of the Torah, as it says, \u201cYou shall act in accordance with the instructions (<em>ha-torah<\/em>) they have given you and the ruling handed down to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they tell to you, either to the right or to the left\u201d (Devarim 17:11). It also says, \u201cRemember the days of old, consider the years of ages past; ask your father, he will inform you; your elders, they will tell you\u201d (<em>ibid<\/em>. 32:7) (<em>Shabbat<\/em> 23a). Thus, in order to remember and publicize the miracle that God performed on our behalf during the Second Temple era, the Sages instituted a mitzva to light candles all eight days of \u0124anuka.<\/p>\n<p>Women are obligated in this mitzva just as men are. Even though it is a time-bound positive mitzva, from which women are usually exempt, they are nonetheless obligated because women were involved in the miracle (<em>Shabbat<\/em> 23a; however, it is customary for a married woman to fulfill her obligation through her husband\u2019s lighting; see below n. 2, and above ch. 11 n. 14).<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of all the laws that the Sages instituted regarding where and when to light \u0124anuka candles is to publicize the miracle. Therefore, they required that one light the candles near the door or in front of a window facing a main thoroughfare, so that passersby can see the candles (as will be explained below, 13:1-3). They also determined that one should light the candles after <em>shki\u2019a<\/em>, when the maximum number of people will see them. On one hand, darkness has already begun to descend, making the lights more visible. On the other hand, it is early enough that the streets are still filled with people coming home from work (we will elaborate below, 13:4). Publicizing the miracle, however, is not a prerequisite for fulfilling the mitzva. Even a Jew who lives alone in a deserted area must light the candles, in order to remind himself of the miracle.<\/p>\n<p>The value of this mitzva is so great that even a poor man who cannot afford to buy candles must panhandle or sell his clothes to buy \u0124anuka candles. The <em>halakha<\/em> does not demand that one beg or sell his clothes for the sake of other <em>mitzvot<\/em>, but since this mitzva involves publicizing the miracle, the obligation is greater. However, a poor person need not perform the mitzva <em>le-mehadrin<\/em>; it is sufficient for him to light one candle each night (sa 671:1; mb <em>ad loc. <\/em>3; ahs <em>ad loc. <\/em>3; see Rema 656:1; bhl <em>ad loc.<\/em>, s.v. \u201cafilu\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">*<\/a> Editor\u2019s note: We use the term \u201ccandles\u201d for \u201c<em>nerot<\/em>\u201d because of convention and because, unlike the terms \u201clights\u201d or \u201clamps,\u201d candles most clearly denote lights produced by flames, not because the <em>nerot<\/em> must be made of wax or another solid flammable. See below, sections 7 and 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sages ordained lighting candles* all eight days of \u0124anuka, which correspond to the days on which the Jewish people celebrated and praised God for helping them defeat the Greeks, liberate Jerusalem, and purify the Holy Temple. It was on those days that the oil in the Temple\u2019s Menora burned miraculously. Even though lighting \u0124anuka [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-12"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>01. The Mitzva to Light \u0124anuka Candles - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-12-01\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"01. 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