Laws of Lighting Shabbos Candles - Rabbi Menachem Mendel Harel shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 One of the special mitzvos in every Jewish home is the mitzvah associated with Erev Shabbos: lighting Shabbos candles. Our Sages instituted that candles be lit in every Jewish home in honor of Shabbos. The reason they gave is so that a person won’t stumble over wood or stone. In other words, if the house is dark, someone might trip, get hurt, and have their enjoyment of Shabbos disturbed. And in a home with other people, that would also be the opposite of peace in the home. That is why the Shabbos candle is also called a candle of peace in the home. There is another aspect to lighting Shabbos candles: when there are candles, it is a pleasure to eat in a place that is lit. In the words of the halachic authorities on this subject, as the light increases, so do joy and pleasure. When we sit at a Shabbos table lit by many candles, we have greater enjoyment. So we understand that candles must be lit in honor of Shabbos. But the question is: How many candles must be lit? Who must light them, and when? These three questions are very important to the whole subject of lighting Shabbos candles. First of all, who must light the candles? Everyone. Anyone who has a home must have candles lit there in honor of Shabbos. But in a home where a couple lives—a family, a father and mother—the mitzvah was given to the woman. Why was it given to her? Because our Sages see the woman as central to the home. She is the one who is there, who attends to the practical running of the home, and therefore the mitzvah was given to her. There is another reason. Our Sages said that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu created Adam on the sixth day of Creation, the woman led him astray, and through her Adam ate

03:20 Speaker 2 from the Tree of Knowledge. Our Sages said: She spoiled the challah of the world; therefore, she must separate challah. She extinguished the candle of the world; therefore, she must light the candle. She shed Adam’s blood; therefore, she must observe the laws of niddah. These are three mitzvos in which a woman is especially obligated, known by the initials Chanah, or hachen: challah, niddah, and lighting the candle. The incident with Adam and Chava took place on Erev Shabbos. So when it comes to lighting the Shabbos candle—a candle of peace in the home, a candle of enjoyment on Shabbos—the primary obligation rests on the woman. Therefore, in a home where a husband and wife live, the woman has first priority in lighting the candle. But if she cannot light, then of course the obligation falls on her husband, because the obligation applies to the home. That is also why someone who lives alone, whether a man or a woman, must light; and if a wife goes away for Shabbos, the mitzvah falls on her husband to light in his home. So we have established who must light the candle: every person in their home. Ideally, the woman has the privilege of fulfilling the mitzvah. At the same time, the Rebbe urged that even young girls should light Shabbos candles from the time they know how to speak. The Rebbe explains that we see this from Rivkah our mother. It says that when Yitzchak brought her home, “Yitzchak brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother”—he brought her into Sarah’s home, Sarah’s tent—and “she was like Sarah.” What was special about Sarah? She lit a candle on Erev Shabbos, and it burned from one Erev Shabbos until the next. The Rebbe explains that there are two very special points in this account of Rivkah. The first is: How old was Rivkah? She was three years old. Second, even before she married Yitzchak—because it was only

06:01 Speaker 2 after he saw that she was like Sarah his mother that he married her—she was already lighting a Shabbos candle. From this, the Rebbe says, we too must understand that every girl, from the youngest age at which she knows how to speak, should be given a Shabbos candle to light. From a halachic standpoint, though, there are several very important things to know about a daughter’s lighting. First, the daughter lights before her mother. Why? If the mother lights before her daughter, then when the mother lights the candles and accepts Shabbos—as is our custom when lighting candles—the daughter will no longer be able to light afterward. So the girl lights first, and then the mother lights. Also, according to our custom, a young girl recites the blessing over lighting Shabbos candles. But it is important to emphasize that when encouraging girls from other groups within the Jewish people to light Shabbos candles, we must follow their custom: the girl does not recite the blessing, because only the mother does. The Rebbe wrote that their custom should not be changed. That means the girl lights but does not recite a blessing, and the mother recites it. Let me sum up this point: Those who follow Chabad custom have the mother let her daughter light first and recite the blessing, and then the mother lights and recites the blessing. But generally, among Sephardi girls, the girl does not recite the blessing. She can and should light a Shabbos candle, but only the mother recites the blessing. That is one point. Another point to know concerns when a girl begins lighting. As soon as she starts speaking, there is no need to wait until she is three or four. As soon as she knows how to speak, she begins lighting Shabbos candles. It is best, if possible, to begin on a Yom Tov, when Shehecheyanu is also recited, so that the girl can recite Shehecheyanu

08:40 Speaker 2 for her first time lighting. But if Yom Tov is not near and the girl already knows how to speak and wants to light Shabbos candles, she can light on the first Shabbos after she begins speaking and can recite the blessing herself. If the woman is not at home—she is in the hospital, about to give birth, baruch Hashem, with Hashem’s help—and her husband is at home, then of course the mitzvah is for him to light the Shabbos candles. Even though his wife lights in the hospital where she is, he must also light in his home, where he is. However, if he has an older daughter and wants her to light the Shabbos candles as his agent, that is also possible. He can appoint her as his agent, and she can light the Shabbos candles at home that Shabbos in place of her mother, because the mitzvah is fundamentally the obligation of the head of the household. When the mother is there, she fulfills the mitzvah, but when she is absent for some reason, the daughter can certainly act as his agent and light the Shabbos candles on his behalf. One of the interesting questions about lighting Shabbos candles is when to recite the blessing. We have a general rule for all mitzvos: the blessing is recited before the mitzvah is performed. In other words, we recite the blessing and then do the mitzvah. So the question arises: When do we recite the blessing over Shabbos candles—before lighting or afterward? The halachic authorities differ on this too, and the Alter Rebbe rules that the woman lights and then recites the blessing. But how does that fit with the rule that the blessing comes first and the lighting afterward? After all, when the woman says the blessing “to light the Shabbos candle,” she has already lit it. So how can she say “to light”? This is why the custom has two stages in lighting Shabbos candles, as we see in the practice of Jewish women that was adopted in accordance with this ruling. The woman lights the Shabbos candles and then

11:12 Speaker 2 She covers her eyes. She covers her eyes and says the blessing. Then, after the blessing, she removes her hands from her eyes, looks at the Shabbos candles and enjoys their light. That is what the blessing applies to. The reason she cannot say the blessing before lighting is that when she says it, she accepts Shabbos upon herself. And if she has accepted Shabbos, how can she light the Shabbos candles afterward? So the order is as we said: she lights, covers her eyes, says the blessing, uncovers her eyes and enjoys the light of the Shabbos candles. In this way, she fulfills the mitzvah of lighting Shabbos candles properly. At the same time, lighting the holy Shabbos candles is a particularly auspicious time. The Frierdiker Rebbe explains in one of his sichos in Likkutei Dibburim that at this time mothers pray for their children to merit shining with the light of “a mitzvah is a candle, and Torah is light.” As is customary among the Jewish people, they pray for their children, for their husbands, for their homes and for themselves. It is indeed an auspicious time for all these prayers. A woman who lit candles, whether for Shabbos or Yom Tov, and forgot to say the blessing has fulfilled the mitzvah, but she forgot the blessing. As long as the candles are still burning, she can cover her eyes, say the blessing and then enjoy their light. She can do so even an hour after the time for lighting, because she already lit the candles earlier. She can say the blessing now because the candles are still burning; she covers her eyes with her hands and then enjoys the light of the candles, as we explained earlier regarding how to light them. There is a difference of opinion among the halachic authorities when many people are staying in one home. Today it is very common for couples to come to their parents’ home to eat and spend Shabbos with them, and everyone wants to light Shabbos candles. Can all the women lighting

13:54 Speaker 2 in that home say the blessing over lighting the holy Shabbos candles? Our custom follows the ruling of the halachic authorities that additional light brings additional delight and joy. So even though the lady of the house—in this case, the mother or grandmother—lights Shabbos candles, the daughters and daughters-in-law who light additional candles near where she lights can also say the blessing over lighting the holy Shabbos candles. It is important to note that according to Sephardic custom, only the lady of the house says the blessing. If this situation arises, one should know that customs differ on this point and simply explain that. Our custom is that additional light brings additional delight, since the main purpose of lighting Shabbos candles is to enhance the enjoyment of Shabbos. So if it adds to that enjoyment, the women who light may say the blessing. After a woman lights the candles, she does not extinguish the match herself. Instead, she puts it down somewhere it will go out on its own. Of course, she must put it somewhere it cannot, G-d forbid, cause a fire or any other harm. If a man lights Shabbos candles for one of the reasons we mentioned earlier, he too lights first, covers his eyes and then says the blessing. When a woman lights the holy Shabbos candles, she needs to make sure they have caught properly. She should not just light them and move on. With each candle, she should check that it has caught properly and that the flame is burning steadily on the wick. If one of the candles she lit goes out while she is still lighting, it depends: if she is still in the middle of lighting the candles, she may relight that candle. But if she has already lit all the candles and finished, and only then notices that one has gone out, in that case

16:41 Speaker 2 she does not relight it; she will light it only after Shabbos. So it is very important to check while lighting that all the candles are burning properly, and only then finish lighting. How many candles do we light? By the basic law, there needs to be one candle in every room of the house. I will explain shortly what that means. The purpose of a Shabbos candle is to keep a person from stumbling over things on the floor. So it was established that every room of the house used on Shabbos should have light. But, boruch Hashem, in our generations we have electric lighting, so we do not need to light a candle in every room. We turn on a light in the hallway and one in the living room, and the whole house benefits from the light. Everywhere in the house, we can see where we are going and avoid bumping into objects or other obstacles. So today, turning on the electric lights at home takes care of the need to light every room. Where, then, is the main place for lighting Shabbos candles today? It is where we eat the Shabbos meal, and the main reason for lighting Shabbos candles today is the enjoyment of Shabbos. As mentioned, by the basic law one candle is enough, but it has become customary to light two. The halachic authorities give a number of reasons for lighting two candles, and we will mention two of them. One reason is that the two candles correspond to the two commandments about Shabbos stated in the Ten Commandments: “Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it” and “Observe the Shabbos day to sanctify it”—“remember” and “observe.” Another reason is that on Shabbos a person is given an additional soul, and the soul is compared to a candle, as it says, “The soul of man is Hashem’s candle.” So in this regard,

19:12 Speaker 2 a woman lights two candles corresponding to the soul and the additional soul one has on Shabbos. People have also adopted the custom of lighting a candle for each child. Some have the custom of adding still more candles, but the widespread custom is to light one for each child. As our Sages of blessed memory said: “One who is careful with the mitzvah of lighting candles will have children who are Torah scholars.” Since we want our children, with Hashem’s help, to be Torah scholars, illuminated by the light of Torah, we add candles in their honor and merit—a mitzvah candle in honor of Shabbos—so that the light of the mitzvah and the light of Torah will shine within them. That is why women generally light more than two candles, each according to her custom. A very interesting point connected with adding Shabbos candles concerns a woman who forgot to light them. If a woman failed to light Shabbos candles because she forgot, it was established that from the following Shabbos onward she adds one candle every Shabbos. In other words, if until now she was accustomed to lighting two candles, from the next Shabbos onward she lights three—three candles every Shabbos. If she was accustomed to lighting three, from then on she adds one and lights four every Shabbos, and so on. This does not mean she adds another candle each Shabbos. It means she adds one candle and thereafter lights the new number: from three to four, from four to five, and so on. Here too, one should know that not all communities accepted this rule of adding a candle after forgetting to light. So if the question comes up, one should know that in Ashkenazi and Chassidic communities, a woman who forgot to light Shabbos candles adds a candle from then on. Sephardic communities did not adopt this penalty, so she continues lighting the number of candles she had lit until then. We mentioned the custom that a woman who forgot to light Shabbos candles, from then on

21:50 Speaker 2 And from then on, she lights an additional candle. It is important to know that if this was not simply an oversight but was beyond her control—for example, the woman was in a hospital where they did not allow candles to be lit, or was in a place and situation where she could not light them because of the circumstances—this is not considered forgetting, and the penalty of adding a candle from then on does not apply to her. Or suppose a woman normally lights seven or eight candles every Shabbos, but one Shabbos she had only two candles and lit just those two. That is not considered forgetting either, and the penalty does not apply to her. This practice of lighting many candles according to our custom applies only to married women. But a woman who is not yet married—a young woman, even an adult woman living on her own—according to our custom lights only one candle in honor of Shabbos. Shabbos candles are lit in honor of Shabbos. In other words, at the time of lighting, it must be evident that the candle is being lit in honor of Shabbos. So one cannot light it before the time when that would be evident. I’ll give an example. There are women who, boruch Hashem, have their homes ready for Shabbos by Friday morning. By Friday noon, all the cooking is finished, even the hotplate is set up, and everything is tidy and spotless. The woman has large candles that burn for many hours, and she wants to light them now in honor of Shabbos. It is, say, two in the afternoon, and Shabbos begins at five or six. But she is already ready for Shabbos, even dressed in her Shabbos clothes, and wants to light the candles in honor of Shabbos. The answer is that lighting at that time is not considered to be in honor of Shabbos. What is more, if she lit them and recited the blessing that early, it was a blessing in vain. She must

24:24 Speaker 2 extinguish those candles and light them again close to Shabbos, so that it is plainly evident that she lit them in honor of Shabbos. When is it considered lighting in honor of Shabbos? That time is called plag haminchah. You can usually find it listed on calendars as “plag haminchah.” It is a little more than an hour before sunset. That is for those who want to light early. But generally, most people should light, and do light, at what is called candle-lighting time. The Rebbe states in the additions to Likkutei Sichos that candle-lighting time is eighteen minutes before sunset. In most cities, there are also calendars that list candle-lighting time. That is when a woman should light. If she is a little late, she may still light as long as it is before sunset. But if the time is already borderline, right around sunset, she can no longer light them herself. It becomes a more complicated question. It may be possible to have a non-Jew light them, and so on, but we will not go into that here. What we can say here is that one should light eighteen minutes before sunset and not later. If one is a little late, she may light as long as it is clear that it is still before sunset. But if the time is borderline, she can no longer light Shabbos candles herself. We mentioned earlier that, in practice today, the primary reason for lighting Shabbos candles is the enjoyment of Shabbos, because elsewhere in the home, and even where the meal is eaten, there is, boruch Hashem, electric lighting. The candles add to the enjoyment of Shabbos. Since the candles add to that enjoyment, and the main enjoyment of Shabbos takes place at the Shabbos meal, the place to light them is near where the Shabbos meal is eaten, in the same room.

26:54 Speaker 2 Ideally, if possible, the candles should be lit on the Shabbos table. That is not always possible, for various reasons: perhaps there are small children who might knock them over, or the table is too small to hold candlesticks as well, or the lamps use oil. When the table moves, the oil moves too, and some halachic authorities note that this can raise an issue of kindling and extinguishing as the oil moves closer to the wick, and so on. In situations like these, one may light the candles near the Shabbos table, beside it, or in another safe place that avoids the safety or halachic problems we mentioned. But again, where should the candles be? What is their proper place? It is near where the Shabbos meal is eaten. As we mentioned earlier, the main place for Shabbos candles is where people eat, the place of Shabbos enjoyment. This is something to keep in mind when staying with other people. First of all, if you are spending Shabbos with another family—usually, as I said, with parents—then of course you light where the mother lights, near the Shabbos table. The fact that the mother’s candles are already there does not prevent her married daughter or daughter-in-law from reciting a blessing. As we said, the main point is the enjoyment of Shabbos: the light increases, the joy increases, and the pleasure increases. But sometimes a person is staying in one home and going to another for the Shabbos meal. According to all opinions, the primary fulfillment of the mitzvah in that case is to light where the meal is eaten. So if it is possible to get there before Shabbos, all the better; one lights the Shabbos candles there, where the meal will be eaten. But if that is not possible, the woman should light in her own home. It is very important, though, not to leave the house immediately, but

29:31 Speaker 2 to wait a little, until it grows dark and night falls. Then she will enjoy the Shabbos candles she lit during Shabbos, and afterward she can go to her hosts’ home. If one is staying in a hotel or a similar place, where there is a dining room in which all the families eat together, the woman should light where they eat, in the dining area. One very important thing to keep in mind, especially in public places where Shabbos candles are lit, is that the candles cannot be in a side room. The Shabbos candles must be burning near where the meal is eaten; that is, they must be visible during the meal. So if there is a separate room for candles and they cannot be seen from where the meal is eaten, that presents a problem with the entire candle-lighting, and it is a serious question whether one may even recite a blessing over such lighting. It is therefore very important, especially when going to public places like these, to make sure the candles can be lit somewhere that people benefit from them during the meal. By “benefit,” as we said, we mean that the candles are visible from where the Shabbos meal is eaten. Sometimes a woman cannot light an actual Shabbos candle, or a man on his own cannot light one. For example, some hotels do not allow an open flame anywhere on the premises under any circumstances. Or a woman or man may be in a hospital where lighting Shabbos candles is not permitted. In that situation, one may turn on the lamp—the bedside lamp that will be used during Shabbos—and recite the blessing over turning it on, just as one recites the blessing over lighting a Shabbos candle. Let’s take the simplest example. A person is in a hotel or, alternatively, a hospital. There is a bedside lamp that he or she leaves on to be able to see what is happening in the room, to read if she wishes, to be able

31:56 Speaker 2 to eat by the light of that lamp. So at the time for lighting Shabbos candles, since she cannot light a physical candle, she should turn on the lamp specifically for this purpose and recite the same blessing she would recite over lighting Shabbos candles. Why? Because the main purpose of Shabbos light is to provide light that contributes to the enjoyment of Shabbos. If it is not possible to light a candle as the law ordinarily requires, the lamp serves the same purpose as a candle, and in such a situation she may recite the blessing over turning on the electric lamp. It is important to clarify that this is different from Chanukah: even someone who has no flame does not fulfill the obligation to light Chanukah candles with an electric lamp. These are two different laws, two different matters. Now, regarding someone—or more precisely, a woman—who is confined to bed and cannot light Shabbos candles: if she is given the opportunity to light candles, even in her own home, but can only light them from her bed because she truly cannot get out of it, then although ideally Shabbos candles should be lit where they will remain, near the Shabbos meal table, in this situation the Shabbos candles may be brought to her so she can light them beside her bed. They should remain beside her for a short time, and then a member of the household who has not yet accepted Shabbos should take them and put them where the Shabbos meal is eaten. As stated, this applies only to a woman who is confined to bed. Another point to pay attention to when lighting Shabbos candles is the wind where they are placed. Do not put the candles opposite a window that we normally open when we need some air. Because if

34:16 Speaker 2 we light the candles there and they go out when we open the window, we create a problem of extinguishing a flame on Shabbos. The same applies opposite a door. The candles therefore need to be positioned so that they can burn without anything we do causing them to go out. In fact, these days, baruch Hashem, you can find display cases at very affordable prices that can be mounted on the wall near the Shabbos table and are designed for lighting Shabbos candles inside them. They are attractive and enclosed with special doors that both protect the candles and keep them from going out. This also adds to the honor of the table and the enjoyment of Shabbos. So sometimes, especially when there are young children at home and so on, it is advisable to use these special accessories. Their whole purpose is to help us perform the mitzvos more beautifully. Since the main purpose of the candle is to bring enjoyment to the place where we eat, there is one time each year when we need to pay attention to where that meal takes place: Sukkos. Throughout the year, we generally light in the living room, near the place where we eat the Shabbos meal, as mentioned earlier. But on Sukkos, when we eat in the sukkah, ideally the candles should be lit inside the sukkah. If that is not possible for some reason, because of wind or, G-d forbid, a danger that the sukkah might catch fire, then the candles should be lit in the house, but in a place where they can be seen from the sukkah. There is something else the Shulchan Aruch says to be careful about: a baby should not be naked in front of a candle. So one must be careful, especially since these are Shabbos candles, candles used for a mitzvah. Here, too, there is the additional consideration that they are mitzvah candles: do not change a baby’s diaper and the like near the Shabbos candles. Instead,

36:35 Speaker 2 do it in a room, somewhere that is not directly in front of the Shabbos candles. This mainly comes up when visiting someone else. At home, there is usually a changing area where the baby is changed, but when visiting, it can sometimes be hard to find a place. People may feel embarrassed to—look for one, or ask whether there is somewhere to change the baby, and then they change the baby in the living room or somewhere similar. One should make sure it is not opposite, meaning directly in front of, the Shabbos candles. Take the baby to the side and change the baby in the stroller, or, simplest of all, ask the hosts where the baby can be changed away from the Shabbos candles. The custom is for a woman to daven Minchah before lighting Shabbos candles. Since she accepts Shabbos when she lights the candles, it is no longer time for her to daven Minchah. So the order is Minchah first, and then lighting the Shabbos candles. If, however, she forgot to daven Minchah and has already lit the candles, it depends on whether, when she lit them, she remembered that she had not yet davened Minchah. In other words, if she had in mind that she still needed to daven Minchah, that is considered as though she had made a stipulation, and after the fact she may daven Minchah after lighting the candles. But if she did not remember that she had not davened Minchah and only remembered after lighting the candles—“Oh, I didn’t daven Minchah”—then she must daven Maariv twice, as is the law for someone who forgot to daven Minchah. Also, if time is so short that she is concerned she will miss the time for davening, then in a case of great need—not as a usual practice at all—she may stipulate that she will be able to daven Minchah after lighting the candles, and daven Minchah afterward. But as stated earlier, the proper order is certainly to daven Minchah first and then light the Shabbos candles. As we mentioned earlier, the Rebbe calls attention to the custom that a woman give coins to tzedakah

38:55 Speaker 2 before lighting the Shabbos candles. There is special significance in giving that tzedakah to the Rabbi Meir Baal Haness fund, for which the Alter Rebbe established the Colel Chabad fund. Baruch Hashem, both in Eretz Yisroel and abroad, there are institutions that collect tzedakah in accordance with what the founder of the fund, the Alter Rebbe, established, and the leader of these tzedakah funds is the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. So remember to give tzedakah before lighting the Shabbos candles, particularly to this fund. The Rebbe also encourages giving tzedakah for Friday and for Shabbos. And when there is a Yom Tov, as we will discuss when we cover the laws of Yom Tov, one should give tzedakah for two days. That is, if Shabbos is followed by Yom Tov, or abroad, where Yom Tov lasts two days, one should give tzedakah for both days. As we mentioned earlier, a woman accepts Shabbos when she lights the candles. So before she goes to light, after making sure that she is indeed lighting at the proper time, it is very important that she check that she has finished everything that could involve violating Shabbos, handling muktzeh, and the like. Once she lights the Shabbos candles, she can no longer do any of the things that may not be done on Shabbos. The tzedakah box into which she puts coins before lighting—since, as the Rebbe has emphasized many times, coins should be given to tzedakah before lighting Shabbos candles—should also be placed somewhere she will not need to move it afterward. And as stated, she should not extinguish the match she uses to light the candles, but should put it somewhere it will go out on its own. And if, after lighting the candles, a woman suddenly discovers that there is something she forgot to do before lighting the candles

41:16 Speaker 2 Shabbos, and doing that would violate Shabbos, so she herself cannot do it. But she may ask a member of the household who has not yet accepted Shabbos to do whatever needs to be done: turn on a light, turn off a light, switch the refrigerator to Shabbos mode, and so on. She may ask someone else who has not yet accepted Shabbos to do it, even though she herself is now forbidden to do so, because she accepted Shabbos when she lit the candles. If there is a pressing need for the woman not to accept Shabbos when she lights the candles, she may make a stipulation to that effect, provided that another member of the household accepts Shabbos around the time of the lighting. For example, suppose that after lighting Shabbos candles, a woman needs to travel somewhere important and be there right as Shabbos begins. She wants to manage both lighting Shabbos candles and making the trip. If she lights the candles and accepts Shabbos, she will not be able to travel. If she does not accept Shabbos, she would have to give up lighting candles, and she does not want to do that. So what do we do in such a situation? Her husband, for example, can accept Shabbos in her place. She lights the candles and stipulates that her husband is accepting Shabbos, and she travels where she needs to go. When a woman lights the candles, she accepts Shabbos, and we mentioned a pressing situation in which another member of the household accepts it in her place. But what should a woman do if there is no one to accept Shabbos in her place? Say she is alone and urgently needs to travel somewhere, but she also needs to light Shabbos candles at home. How can she do both? In such a situation, in a case of great need, she may stipulate that she is not accepting Shabbos immediately upon lighting, but

43:28 Speaker 2 she must accept Shabbos shortly after lighting. The poskim write that “shortly” means within ten minutes. Why must it be within ten minutes? Because, according to our practice, the primary purpose of lighting Shabbos candles is to honor Shabbos, in a way that makes it evident that the candles honor Shabbos. So she must also accept Shabbos, making it evident that Shabbos has arrived with the lighting of the candles. Ideally, then, she accepts Shabbos when she lights. But in a case of very great need, she may stipulate that she will accept Shabbos only a short time afterward, travel to the nearby place she needs to reach within those ten minutes, and then accept Shabbos. The same applies to a woman who is very thirsty and needs to drink. Once she has lit the candles and accepted Shabbos, she cannot drink or eat. But she has no choice: she must light Shabbos candles, and she also must drink. So when lighting, she stipulates that she will be able to drink afterward. She drinks immediately after lighting and then accepts Shabbos within ten minutes. We know that the mitzvah of lighting candles is to honor Shabbos. But on Yom Tov, too, there is a mitzvah to take pleasure in Yom Tov, to enjoy the festival. So just as we light candles in honor of Shabbos, we light candles on Yom Tov in honor of the festival. On the eve of Yom Tov as well, ideally the candles should be lit eighteen minutes before sunset. And as is our custom with Shabbos candles, on Yom Tov too we light the candles and then say the blessings. Although we know that halachah permits lighting candles even after Yom Tov has begun, because this is part of the pleasure of Yom Tov, we light them in exactly the same way we light Shabbos candles, so as not to depart from that practice. The time

45:46 Speaker 2 for lighting Yom Tov candles, as we mentioned, is before sunset, as on Friday evening: eighteen minutes before. But unlike Shabbos, when candles may no longer be lit once sunset arrives, on Yom Tov they may be lit even after sunset. In other words, a woman whose lighting was delayed for some reason and who did not manage to light before the festival—assuming, of course, that its eve fell on a weekday—may light the festival candles after sunset as well. After sunset, she must light them from an existing flame. That means taking fire from a flame that is already burning and using it to light the Yom Tov candle; she may not create a new flame. She may not strike a match on Yom Tov, and if she has no flame, she cannot light. She can obtain a flame from her neighbors using a candle or something similar, but a new flame may not be created on Yom Tov itself, even for the sake of enjoying Yom Tov. So, to sum up, a woman who was supposed to light before sunset on the eve of Yom Tov may light near the time of the meal, using an existing flame to light the Yom Tov candles. As for the order of lighting on Yom Tov, as we said earlier, we light first and then say the blessings. Which blessings? We say two: “to kindle the Yom Tov light” and Shehecheyanu. I will just mention that there are differences in custom here too. If you hear other women say that in their parents’ home or their own home they do not say Shehecheyanu, know that this is indeed a matter of differing customs. Our custom is that the woman also says Shehecheyanu when lighting Yom Tov candles. Of course, lighting candles after Yom Tov has begun is possible only when Yom Tov falls on a weekday. But if the festival falls on Shabbos, all the laws of Shabbos apply. And just as we do not light a fire on Shabbos,

48:19 Speaker 2 we do not light a fire on Yom Tov that falls on Shabbos. This is very important. We need to pay attention when two festival days come one after the other. What does that mean? Rosh Hashanah, for example, lasts two days. The first day is Yom Tov, and the second day is Yom Tov. Outside Eretz Yisroel, there are two days of Yom Tov: the first day and the second day. Each is, so to speak, a festival in its own right. Therefore, we may not prepare from one day of Yom Tov for the next, and we may not light candles on one day for the next. So a woman who needs to light candles for the second day of Rosh Hashanah may not light them before nightfall, when the first day of Rosh Hashanah has ended. Likewise, for any festival with two days of Yom Tov outside Eretz Yisroel, the candles for the second day may not be lit until the first day has ended. And when does the first day end? Only at nightfall. The same certainly applies when Yom Tov follows Shabbos. If there is Shabbos and the festival begins on Saturday night, we may not light candles during Shabbos for the festival. We wait until Shabbos ends, and only then may the candles be lit. This does not apply only to candles; it applies to all preparations for a Yom Tov that follows Shabbos or another day of Yom Tov. Everything for the second day is done only after the first day has ended. There is another point to keep in mind when one day of Yom Tov follows another, or when Yom Tov follows Shabbos. First, those who have the practice of briefly pre-lighting the candles before Shabbos—that is, lighting and extinguishing them, or preparing the wax in some way—cannot do that on the second day of Yom Tov. That means the candles can only be lit as they are. The woman goes over to the burning candle,

50:28 Speaker 2 For example, she lights the candle or match from a yahrzeit candle she left burning before Yom Tov, and uses it to light the Yom Tov candles directly. She does not light it, extinguish it, and then light it again. We do not do that preliminary lighting, because it would be kindling a flame unnecessarily, which is forbidden on Yom Tov. When Yom Tov follows Shabbos—that is, when the festival begins on Saturday night—after nightfall, once Shabbos has ended and Yom Tov has begun, the woman first says, “Blessed is He who distinguishes between holy and holy,” and can then light the Yom Tov candles. Needless to say, if Yom Tov comes before Shabbos, it is forbidden to light candles on Shabbos. The sanctity of Shabbos is greater than that of Yom Tov, and in this case the candles are lit during Yom Tov in honor of Shabbos. This is also connected with the matter of eruv tavshilin, but that is not our subject here. There are several different blessings for candle lighting. On Rosh Hashanah, we say the blessing “to kindle a light for the Day of Remembrance,” as well as Shehecheyanu. If Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, we say “to kindle a light for Shabbos and the Day of Remembrance,” and, of course, Shehecheyanu as well. On the eve of Yom Kippur, our custom is to say “to kindle a light for Yom Kippur” and Shehecheyanu. A woman who says Shehecheyanu when lighting the Yom Kippur candle does not say Shehecheyanu during the prayers after Kol Nidrei, since she has already said it. If Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos, we say “to kindle a light for Shabbos and Yom Kippur,” and Shehecheyanu. On Sukkos, Shemini Atzeres, and Simchas Torah, we say “to kindle a light for Yom Tov” and Shehecheyanu. On Pesach, too,

52:49 Speaker 2 we say the same blessings, and on Shavuos we say the same blessings as well. But on the last days of Pesach—the seventh day of Pesach and the final day of Pesach—we say only “to kindle a light for Yom Tov”; we do not say Shehecheyanu on those last two days of Pesach. If Yom Tov falls on Shabbos, we say “to kindle a light for Shabbos and Yom Tov,” and, of course, add Shehecheyanu.