One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
מְגִלָּה וַחֲנֻכָּה
Scroll of Esther and Hanukkah 4
Sefer Zemanim · How many lamps a house owes, why nearly every ruling here is settled by the eye of a passerby, and the ordinary household light that closes the book by outranking the miracle
80
Lamps on the eighth night for a household of ten at the highest standard
20
Cubits, above which the lamp is of no consequence
1/2
Hour, roughly, until the passersby are gone from the market
1
Prutah, and the lamp takes it before the wine for kiddush
Part 1How many lamps, and what counts as a lamp at all
- One lamp per house is the whole obligation. The mitzvah is a single lamp in each and every house whether many live there or one; the beautiful practice is a lamp for every member of the household, male and female, and the most desirable is a lamp for each person on the first night with one more added for each of them every night after. (4:1)
- The Rambam does the arithmetic himself. Ten members of a household means ten lamps on the first night, twenty on the second, thirty on the third, and eighty on the eighth. (4:2)
- What every community actually does. The common custom in all the cities of Spain is a single lamp for the whole household on the first night, adding one on each night until eight are lit, whether the household is large or a single man is lighting. (4:3)
- Two openings, two people. A lampholder with two openings can be counted for two individuals. (4:4)
- The cover is what turns wicks into lamps. A bowl filled with oil and surrounded with wicks yields a separate lamp for each wick if a utensil is placed over it, and if it is left uncovered it is a large fire that is not counted even as a single lamp. (4:4)
RememberRing an uncovered bowl with eight wicks and you have fewer lamps than the man who lit one. Definition, not volume.
Part 2Hour, place, and the eye of the passerby
- The half hour after sunset. Kindle at sunset, neither earlier nor later, and one who forgot or deliberately delayed may light until the passersby are gone from the marketplace, roughly half an hour, having put in enough oil to last that long; a lamp that went out on its own need not be relit, and once the traffic has ended it may be extinguished or moved. (4:5)
- Any oil, precisely because you may not use the light. All oils and all wicks are fit, even those forbidden for the Sabbath lamp and even on the Sabbath of Chanukah, since benefiting from this light is forbidden on the Sabbath and on a weekday alike, even to inspect or count coins. (4:6)
- Left of the doorway, and under twenty cubits. The lamp belongs outside the entrance within the handbreadth nearest the door on the left as one enters, so the mezuzah stands on the right; one living in an upper storey uses a window near the public domain, and a lamp placed above twenty cubits accomplishes nothing, since it does not attract attention at that height. (4:7)
- Danger buys the indoors and costs another lamp. In a time of danger the lamp may be set inside the house, and even lighting it on the table is sufficient, provided another lamp burns for ordinary use, or a fire is burning; a prestigious man who does not normally use firelight needs a separate candle. (4:8)
- Kindling is the mitzvah, not placing. A lamp kindled by one not obligated in it is void, as is one kindled indoors and then carried out to the entrance while burning, or held in the hand while a man stands still, since an observer will say he is standing there for his own purposes; a lamp that burned through the Sabbath day is extinguished, blessed over and kindled again. (4:9)
RememberNothing about the flame decides these cases. What decides them is the conclusion a stranger in the street would draw.
Part 3Guests, poverty, and the lamp that outranks the miracle
- Two gates, two lamps. A courtyard with entrances from two different directions requires two lamps, lest passersby from the other side say no Chanukah lamp was set down there, while two entrances on the same side are satisfied by lighting at one. (4:10)
- The guest, and the room of his own. A guest whose household kindles for him at home need not kindle where he lodges, and one with no home being lit for him must kindle in his lodging and share in the oil; but a guest staying in a private dwelling must kindle there even though lights are being kindled for him at home, because of the passersby. (4:11)
- Sell the coat. The mitzvah of the Chanukah lamp is exceedingly dear and a person must be very careful with it in order to publicize the miracle and increase praise and thanks, so that even one who has nothing to eat except what he receives from charity pawns or sells his garments to buy oil and lamps. (4:12)
- One prutah, and the miracle takes it. Where a single prutah must choose between wine for kiddush and oil for the Chanukah lamp, the lamp takes precedence, both obligations being Rabbinic and this one commemorating the miracle. (4:13)
- And the lamp of the house outranks both. Between the lamp for one's home and the Chanukah lamp, or between the lamp for one's home and kiddush, the lamp of the home comes first because it generates peace in the house, since the Divine Name is erased to make peace between a husband and his wife and the whole Torah was given to bring peace into the world. (4:14)
RememberThe mitzvah you sell your coat for is ranked beneath the lamp in the back room that publicizes nothing and that nobody outside will ever see.