Chanukah: Kavsa Zakuk La

There is a fundamental halachic concept by Neros Chanukah known as "Kavsa Eino Zakuk La", meaning: if the candles go out, you are not required to relight. Since the actual lighting is the mitzvah and provided at the time of the lighting all requirements were fulfilled, if the candles do go out, one need not relight. This halacha is very practical to almost everyone. Common examples are if someone walks by and your candles go out, or if while someone else is lighting they accidentally cause your candles to go out. Again this exemption from relighting is only if at the time you lit all requirements were met: the menorah was where it is suppose to be, there was enough oil to last, etc. However, if you light in a place were it is reasonable to expect it to go out you are required to relight. For example, if you light the menorah with your front windows open, even if you were to close them right after, since at the time you lit the requirements were not met, you are required to relight with a beracha because you first lighting was invalid. The Maharal of Prague (late 1500's) asked an amazing question based on this concept. In Israel everyone lights outside. But isn't it windy? So people buy a glass box with a front door and place their menorahs inside. They open the door, light the menorah and quickly shut the door to prevent the wind from blowing out the candles. Asked the Maharal, no one in Israel is fulfilling the mitzvah. This case is exactly the same as the window case. When you lit the wind could enter, and if you leave the door/window open for sure it will blow out. So what should it matter if you close the door, at the time of the lighting the requirement weren't met??? However, Rav Moshe Shternbach in his Sefer Moadim U'Zmanim answers that the two cases are not parallel. He explains, what is the basis for this halacha that if you light in a windy place you aren't yotzei. It must be the Rabbis were worried you would forget to fix the problem and it would blow out. So, in a case were it is plausible you will forget (our windows being open) it makes sense you aren't yotzei, because there is no need for you to close- in fact, if you were so worried, why didn't you close the windows before you lit. However, by the glasses boxes in Israel, everyone would love to keep it closed at all times- but then you couldn't light. Since the whole functioning of the box is to close the door, and people only open because they need to light, the Rabbis never decreed this wasn't good- because in this scenario people won't forget. Last weeks A- This question was for the real history buffs. In 1948 the first day of Chanukah fell on Sunday December 26th. Thus Shabbos Chanukah was January 1st 1949. Hence the Calendar Year 1948 had no Shabbos Chanukah. Thank you to S120 for that brain buster. These weeks Q- We all know the miracle of Chanukah lasted for eight days because that's how long it took to get kosher oil. (Four days each way). But since at least one of those days must've been Shabbos, and you are not allowed to travel, how did the trip only take eight days? TheHalachaBoy@gmail.com

Quick Review of the Halachos of Chanukah

Halachos of Chanukah 5768- 2007 Disclaimer: This is only a summary of the halachos and common questions that arise. As always you should follow your family's minhag provided there is halachic basis for it. All times listed are for the first night of Chanukah in West Hempstead. Please use www.myzmanim.com or any other reliable source to compute the times for location and day in question. The HalachaBoy wants to thank his HalachicWife for giving him the time to compile this sheet. Finally, if your community Rav says something against this sheet, please follow him. Any questions can be sent to TheHalachaBoy@gmail.com. Who Should Light? v The Minhag is that any responsible and old enough to understand person should light. v This included children. v Generally we assume wives are covered under than husbands. However, if they wish to light they may even with a bracha. v If a wife is relying on her husband's lighting, it seems to reason that she should prepare the candles, as this is the opposite halacha on Friday night where the husband should prepare the candles for his wife. When should you Light? v On a normal night (not Friday or Motzei Shabbas) the ideal time to light is at nightfall.(4:47 pm in West Hempstead on Dec 5, 2007) v One may light at shkiyah (4:27) provided there is enough oil to last a half hour after nightfall.(5:17) v One should wait for his whole family and light together whenever this is possible. v One can light as late as he wishes provided there are people still on the streets or someone in his family still awake. However, he may not eat a meal (bread of a lot of Mezonos) from a half hour before shkiyah 4:23 pm and on until he lights. v If one is not going to be home after shkiyah, he may light with a bracha from plag hamincha (3:28) and on. v One should try to daven mincha and maariv before he lights unless he has a set minyan for maariv which he won't forget to attend. v The menorah when lit after nightfall must contain enough oil to last at least a half hour. v If it burns out earlier, one need not relight. v One can make a condition (ideally verbally, but okay if mentally) that he will blow out the candles after a half hour. Where should one Light? v In America, one should light in a window facing the street, or in a location where most people will see it. What should you Light? v The Best of the Best is for everyone to light one extra candle every night. So that on night 1 you light one candle and on night 8 you light eight. v Ideally, everyone should use pure virgin olive oil. v Candles are ok. However, if you plan on using the tiny candles in the blue box please freeze them beforehand as they need to last a minimum of a half hour . Also try to light them away from other Menorah's as the heat given off from them often causes these small candles to melt in less than a half hour. v Everyone should have their own Menorah so that it a passerby will recognize what night it is and not just see lots of candles. How one Should Light? v When setting up the Menorah with new candles we place them in from old to new. Meaning always put the candle on the far right in first. v When lighting we light from new to old. Meaning always light with the candle furthest to the left. v There is no requirement for the first candle to be in the far right, but we generally do this to avoid confusion on later nights. v One should not light the Shamash from someone elses menorah. Although, someone else's Shamash is okay to light from. v One should say all the brachos before lighting. v The order of the Brachos on the first night is Lehadlik Neir, SheAsa Neisim and then Shehechiyanu. v On all other nights the order is Lehadlik Neir and then SheAsa Neisim without any Shehechiyanu. v One should make sure to light at least one candle before singing HaNeros Halalu. v It is customary to sing HaNeros Halalu once one candle is lit and not wait till all candles are burning. Using the Candles- v One may not benefit from the candles. v One, however, is supposed to look at the candles and recall the miracle that occurred and how it impacts his life today. v Since we do light a shamash, if one did get benefit from the candles he may assume the benefit came from the shamash. Working while the candles are light- v Some have a custom for no one to do melacha (anything assur on yom tov) while the candles our light. v This only applies to the half hour requirement. Anytime after that one may do melacha. v It is generally assumed, only melacha that distracts you from holiday is assur. Therefore, many hold that cooking, especially latkas, is allowed. Friday Night- v One should try to daven mincha before lighting. v One lights the Menorah before his wife lights Shabbas candles. v One needs to make sure there is enough oil to last a half hour past nightfall (5:40 pm). v Even on Erev Shabbas one should not light before Plag HaMincha (3:28) Saturday Night- v One makes Havdalah before lighting the Menorah. v No preparations for lighting the menorah should be done till Havdalah is said. v Even on Motzei Shabbas there is a requirement for the candles to last at least a half hour. Sunday- v Generally people have family parties on Sunday and are away from home when the time to light comes. What should be done? v If you could schedule the party for later or earlier so you can light at home that is ideal. v If you will be going home you could wait and light when you get home. Note: One isn't allowed to eat bread or large portions Mezonos from a half hour before shkiyah 4:23 pm and on until he lights. v If one is not going to be after shkiyah, or he needs to eat he may light with a bracha from plag hamincha (3:28) and on. v If none of this is possible one should appoint an agent to light in his house on his behalf without a bracha. v If that isn't possible, as a last resort, one could light in the guest house or give the guest some money to partake in his lighting. This is however, the least ideal. Customs of Chanukah- v It is customary for children to play dreidel while the menorah is light. v Ideally, a wooden dreidel should be used. v It is assur to gamble on dreidel even for pennies, unless at the end of the game everyone gets back what they started with. v Parents should give children money or presents. This is done to peak the children's interest like on Pesach. v There is no requirement to have a Seuda (festive meal) on Chanukah. Although, it is for sure allowed. v One should eat milk and cheese products as that is what Yehudis (Female Jewish Hero) fed Sisera (evil Greek general) before killing him. v One should eat oil products and fried foods to commemorate the oil used in the menorah. v There is a requirement to be happy! Al Hanissim- v Al Hanissim is added to benching after Nodeh Lecha and in Shemona Esrei after Modem. v If one forgot: as long as he hasn't said Baruch Ata Hashem ( of Al Haretz Va'all Hamazon in benching and Hatov Shemcha in Shemona Esrei he may go back. v Once he says Baruch Ata Hashem he no longer goes back, just continues like a regular day.

Chanukah Drasha- Mehadrin Min HaMehadrin

The gemara in Shabbos records three ways to light Chanukah candles. The first level is to have one person light one candle each night for the entire family. The next level is for everyone in the house to light one candle each night. The best way (Mehadrin Min HaMehadrin) is to light one extra candle each night. This halacha is little known because EVERYONE does it the best way. In fact, there is an argument as to whether the Mehadrin Min HaMehadrin requires everyone to light an extra candle or is it just one person. What we see from this is that by Chanukah everyone fulfills the mitzvah in the most ideal way. This got me to thinking. Why is this true by Chanukah and not Sukkos? It can't be the money issue because the extra money spent on the oil is probably more than buying a better Lulav. Perhaps, sadly however, the reason is as follows. By Sukkos every Lulav and Esrog from a distance look the same. Even to the trained eye it's hard to tell which Lulav is better. However, by Chanukah we stick the Menorah in the windowing showing the whole world the level of our observance. On Sukkos we can skim and save some cash, on Chanukah G-d forbid to skim, Mr. Jones will think less of me. Further if you light one candle on Chanukah everyone agrees you fulfilled your mitzva yet on Sukkos many of us carry around Lulavim that are pasul. In this weeks Parsha when Yaakov is meeting with Eisav, Yaakov says "Yaish Li Kol" (I have everything) Eisav on the other hand says Yaish Li Rov (I have a lot... meaning, I could use more). Yaakov was an Eish Tam .. a simple man, not worried about what others thought of him and constantly realizing all that matters is how I look in the eyes of Hashem. Eisav saw the world different.. Yaish Li Rov ... I have alot... but compared to you it is not enough. Starting this Shabbos let us all ask ourselves- why we settle for mediocrity by lulav and other mitzvos yet by chanukah we go all out? There are good reasons for this difference, let us make sure, though, that those good reasons are causing the difference and not Chas V'Shalom the opposite. We live in a world were we are trained to always look over our shoulder (isn't that why they installed rear view mirrors in cars?). However, let us once be content to travel in our own lane. If anyone has a good reason for the difference, I would love to hear. Please share with me at TheHalachaBoy@gmail.comLast Weeks Answer- Shabbos Rosh Chodesh Chanukah is the longest Benching (Al Hanissim, Ritzei and Yala Vyavo all rolled into one). Congrats to the multitude that answered questions. This weeks Q of the A- This comes from a ParshaMan Subscriber (Parshaman note: The Parshaman squad want to thank SC for contributing this question. We are always looking for comments, additions, and anything else) In 1948 there was no Shabbos Chanukah. Why? (HalachaBoy does not know the answer to this as of printing and isn't really sure how its possible. Editor's note: HalachaBoy claims he figured it out. I think I also figured out the answer.)

Requirement of Shloshim Yom Kodem HaChag

As Chanukah is less than a month a way I felt it was a good idea to begin discussion the laws that apply to it. There is a well known concept called "Sheloshim Yom Kodem HaChag Shoalim Vdeorsim Bo": thirty days before the holiday we should start learning and reviewing the laws. People assume that this applies to all holidays, even those with relatively few laws. Is that in fact true? There are two conflicting Gemaras we must mention: First is a gemara in pesachim that says that on pesach rishon (the first pesach, the one we celebrate) Moshe taught those that weren't able to participate the laws of pesach so they would be prepared for pesach shani (the makeup pesach if you were too far outside Jerusalem or impure). We see from here that Moshe taught the laws of pesach sheni thirty days prior to the holiday. However, the Gemara at the end of Megillah says you should learn the laws of each holiday on that holiday. Clearly implying that there is no requirement of 30 days. So how to paskin (rule)? The Misnah Brurah says that there exist two requirements first you must learn the laws for each holiday prior to that holiday so you know what to do when the times come. For this though, the requirement of 30 days is only by pesach (which now a days to learn well one probably needs a whole year), where everyone agrees the abundant laws are the most complex and thorough, but holidays like Shavous one only need to prepare a day or two in advance. The second requirement is to learn the laws on the holiday itself as a physical action to focus yourself on the greatness of the day. Needless to say Chanukah probably ranks third on the complexity and depth of laws list (behind pesach and sukkos) so it behooves us to start dusting off those seforim and old notes and begin to review. Again if you have any questions thehalachaboy@gmail.com is your one-stop free-shop source for all Chanukah issues. Next week we will begin to discuss the laws more fully. Last weeks A to the Q- The correct bracha if you ate chumus plain is Shehakol- I once saw a doctors great aunt do this in Israel and I almost plotzed in amazement. I mean who would eat a plate of ketchup plain????? This weeks Q of the W- The longest potential benching of the year doesn't happen this year. But what day is awarded this high (aka long) status?

Eating Shalosh Seudos before Skiyah

To conclude our discussion of Shalosh Seudos I wanted to discuss the SSS-craze... a.k.a. the Shalosh Seudos Shkiyah Craze. It seems that people think if they don't wash before Shkiyah they will melt/burn/perish/insert crazy punishment here. Is this idea true? As we mentioned in previous HalachaBoys, SS (again code for shalosh seudos) is a requirement from the torah. Thus we apply the concept safek deoraisa l'chumra, meaning if you are unsure you must be stringent. So, say if you forgot if you ate SS you must eat again. While forgetting if you ate is odd, there is one practical example of this: Bain Hashmashosh. This is the time period after sunset but before night. We generally assume this period is about 20 minutes long. The status of this period is assumed to be Safek Yom/Safek Layla- unsure if day or night; the sun has set but still light out. So if we apply the concept of safek deoraisa l'chumra- the requirement to eat SS continues through Bain Hashmashosh. Ideally you should daven at an early mincha and start eating before sunset and not wait till twilight, however, if eating before sunset requires running, pushing, shoving, dangerous flailing of arms etc… Halachaboy says better to be patient, (see Mom you did teach me manners) and as long as you eat before night you are fine. Because while challah tastes good with chumus and tuna, blood, sweat and tears don't really appetize. Last weeks A to the Q- (no one answered... big shocker!) If you have a set minyan which you always attend, Chazal say you can eat even though the time for davening has arrived , because we are certain you won't forget. This weeks Q of the W- We mentioned challah and chumus. What beracha would one say if he ate chumus plain? Have a good shabbas and remember the T-Shirt is on the line!!!!!!!!!!!!!