Chanuka II: Other Observances

Using the Candles

In contrast to the Shabbat candles, which were originally meant primarily to ensure that the household would be lit up on Shabbat night,¹ the Chanuka candle’s role is purely ritual, and not functional. Benefiting from the Chanuka candles, as in using their light to do work, would make it difficult for others to recognize that the Chanuka lights are there to commemorate and publicize a miracle.

Additionally, performing a mundane task like counting money by the light of the candles would show disrespect to the candle as a mitzva article. As we sing in ha-nerot halallu, the candles might even be said to have sanctity reminiscent of the Menora in the Beit Ha-mikdash.² We also place an extra candle – the shamash – next to the other candles, so that if we do come to use candle-light, we can assume we used its light and not the mitzva candles’.³

Shulchan Aruch summarizes these points:

If the prohibition of using the Chanuka candles derives from recognition of and respect for the mitzva, then it can be waived if the candles remain lit after the mitzva has been fulfilled. Shulchan Aruch specifies that it is permissible to make use of the candles after fulfilling the mitzva, from half an hour after lighting them.

Refraining from Work on Chanuka

According to the Talmud, our sages enacted Chanuka as “yamim tovim,” festive days.⁴ Rashi specifies that we should not take the term “yom tov” to mean that labor is prohibited on Chanuka:

Even so, a custom developed in medieval Rhineland not to perform labor on Chanuka when the candles were lit, or on the first and last day:

It sounds as though this custom was an attempt to treat Chanuka as more of a yom tov. Although Maharil suggests that this custom was kept by all community members, it was retained and became widespread specifically among women.

Why women?

Why did the narrower custom of refraining from labor when the candles are lit gain traction among women? We find two main explanations for it in classic texts:

I. Not using the candles We’ve seen that the Chanuka candles are not for use. A woman, who traditionally would do housework at night by candlelight, is liable to find herself inadvertently using them (even though the shamash is meant as a safeguard against this). Beit Yosef explains that by refraining from labor when the candles are lit, a woman makes it clear to her household that no one can use them as a light source.

On this understanding of the custom, it should be limited to the first half hour after lighting, since afterwards, as we saw above, the candles may be used.

We would assume, then, that a woman should also refrain from cooking for the half hour after lighting. This is customary in Yerushalayim, but otherwise not common practice.

II. Recognizing the Miracle Levush writes that this is akin to the prohibition of performing labor on Yom Tov, in order that we really take time to recognize the miracle:

On this view, a woman should feel free to cook or perform other labors permissible on Yom Tov.

Neither rationale we’ve seen for this custom would seem to be restricted to women. Magen Avraham explains that women take special care to observe it because of women’s role in bringing about the miracle:⁵

This is reminiscent of women’s connection to Rosh Chodesh,⁶ and fits in with a series of women’s traditions to refrain from performing housework of the sort prohibited on chol ha-mo’ed as a way of recognizing a special day. Current custom is to refrain from labor for the first half hour after the candles are lit. For these purposes, labor is typically defined as it is on Chol Ha-mo’ed, which does allow for cooking.

Other Festivities

Festive Meals

Another Yom Tov practice partially adopted on Chanuka is the festive meal. Rema teaches that having a festive meal on Chanuka at which we publicize the miracle is praiseworthy.

Rema adds that we should eat dairy products in commemoration of the Yehudit story. Bach takes this a step further, suggesting that women have extra reason to eat festive meals on Chanuka, because of women’s role in the miracle.

Chag Ha-banot

The best example of a community following this practice might be the North African id el-benaat, “holiday of the girls,” on Rosh Chodesh Tevet. Israeli scholar Dr. Yael Levine describes some of the ways it was celebrated, and urges us to consider embracing it in our day:⁷

A last mitzva of Chanuka of particular interest to women is the recitation of Hallel. Our sages “established them [the days of Chanuka] for hallel [giving praise] and thanks. On Chanuka, we recite a full Hallel each day:

In other words, the recitation of Hallel on Chanuka was established because of the miracles, commemorates them, and may even publicize them.⁸

Ordinarily, women are exempt from reciting Hallel because it is a positive time-bound commandment. This means, for example, that a man who hears Hallel from a woman cannot satisfy his mitzva obligation by simply listening, and needs to repeat what she says word for word:

Tosafot write on this Mishna that women are nevertheless obligated in reciting Hallel on seder night, because of af hen hayu be-oto ha-nes:

Based on this ruling, it would seem that women should also be obligated in reciting Hallel on Chanuka, because that Hallel is also recited because of a miracle and the principle of af hen applies to the miracles of Chanuka.

Rambam’s View

Rambam, however, rules in accordance with the Mishna that a woman cannot discharge a man’s obligation in Hallel, without exception.

Rambam makes no exception for Halllel on Chanuka even though he recognizes that women are obligated in candle-lighting because of af hen. Why should this be the case?

Rav Ovadya Yosef suggests an explanation:⁹

Rambam considers the mitzva of Hallel to be unified. Even though Hallel on Chanuka has a special relationship to the miracle, it is not a unique mitzva. Once it has been enacted as an annual recitation, we do not differentiate halachically between Hallel of Chanuka and Hallel recited on other festive days, so women’s general exemption from Hallel remains in place.

Other Views

Sedei Chemed suggests that women should only be obligated in reciting a single chapter of Hallel or praise, a position which was not widely embraced by others.¹⁰ Other halachic authorities, including Rav Rephael of Volozhin, disagree, and write that women are obligated to recite Hallel on Chanuka:¹¹

More recent halachic authorities remain split on this issue. Rav Ovadya Yosef follows Rambam, and Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach writes that women are exempt.¹² But Rav Shmuel Ha-levi Wosner writes that women should be considered obligated.¹³

Since women’s obligation to recite Hallel on Chanuka is a matter of debate, a woman should make an effort to recite it, in order to comply with all opinions. If necessary, though, she may rely on the opinion that women are exempt.

Women who do not usually recite a beracha on voluntary mitzva observance should not recite one here, in compliance with opinions that women are exempt. Women who do recite berachot on voluntary mitzva performance should recite a beracha here. Reciting Hallel on Chanuka is an additional opportunity to reflect on the Chanuka miracle and women’s role within it.