Placement of the Chanukah Candles: Difference between revisions

# One must light in the place where the Chanukia is going to stay. Thus, one shouldn’t light indoors and then move the Chanukia outside or light it in one’s hand and then put it down. If one did so, one should extinguish the candles and relight without a bracha. <ref>Rava's opinion on [[Shabbat]] 22b is that one must light the [[Chanukah]] candles where the candles are going stay. Rambam ([[Chanukah]] 4:9), Tur and S”A (675:1) codify this as the halacha. Pri Chadash says one shouldn’t make a bracha if one needs to light again, against Hagahot Rabbi Akiva Eiger 675 who says to make a bracha. Torat HaMoadim 3:9 and Sh”t Hitorerut Teshuva 2:110 hold that because of Safek [[Brachot]] one shouldn’t make a bracha (in addition to the idea that perhaps one fulfills the mitzvah not it’s place if it’s recognizable that it’s lit for [[Chanukah]], Sh”t Lev Chaim 3:146). [Regarding reciting a bracha in cases where there is a double safek see Yechave Daat 5:21.] </ref>Consequently, a sick person should not light while in bed and then have the Chanukia moved but rather should let another household member light. <ref> Torat HaMoadim 3:9 quotes the ruling of a sick person from Sh”t Lev Chaim 3:146</ref>

==Lighting Indoors or Outdoors==

# Nowadays, many have the practice to light indoors even when it is not dangerous to light outside. If one is lighting indoors, he should place the chanukia to the left of the door within a [[tefach]] of the door. If, however, there is a window facing the public within 20 [[amot]] of the ground, he should light by the window rather than by the door. Some are strict to light outside, placing their chanukia inside a glass box.<ref>

* [Sh”t Devar Yehoshua 1:40 says nowadays one can only light indoors, and it doesn’t fulfill the mitzvah to light outside. However Chacham Ovadia Yosef (Chazon Ovadia pg. 36-38 and Yalkut Yosef Moadim pg. 231-2) strongly disagrees. He writes that both the Rambam (Chanuka 4:7) and the Shulchan Aruch 671:5 wrote the halacha that you should light outside but when it's dangerous you can light inside. This implies that if possible, one should light outside. Thus he concludes, that it’s better to light outside, although one is allowed to light inside.] [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/m/halacha.aspx?id=1555 Rabbi Eli Mansour], Rav Elyashiv (Kovetz Teshuvot 1:67), Shu"t Divrei Menachem 4:36, Shu"t Yaskil Avdi OC 7:46,  all argue that ideally you should light outside when it's not dangerous.</ref>

# If there are many people in a building lighting outside so that there's not enough room for everyone to light within a tefach of the door, some poskim write that as long as one chanukia is within a tefach the others that are adjacent are acceptable. However, some poskim hold that the chanukia needs to be within a tefach and if that isn't possible several people should join together in lighting one chanukia.<ref>Piskei Shemuot (Chanuka p. 63 quotes Rav Shlomo Zalman (Madenei Shlomo p. 110) as saying that since it is evident that one is only not lighting within a tefach because there is already a chanukia there,  it is acceptable to light further away. However, he also quotes Rav Elyashiv (Shvut Yitzchak v. 8 p. 112) as saying that one may not light beyond a tefach of the door even in such a case. Rather some people should join together for a single chanukia.</ref>

===Lighting in Yeshiva===

# Some say that one fulfills his obligation with lighting in the lobby of the dorms. Some also have the minhag to light in the cafeteria of the yeshiva.<ref> Chazon Ish cited in Teshuvot Vihanhagot 2:342:11 and Rav Aharon Kotler cited in Halachos of [[Chanukah]] by Rav Shimon Eider pg. 37 </ref> Others, however, argue that one would fulfill his obligation only if he lights on the same floor as his room. Due to safety considerations, though, many Yeshivot, forbid lighting in or next to the dorm rooms.<Ref>The Gemara ([[Shabbat]] 21b) establishes that the primary place for [[Chanukah]] candles is right outside the door of one’s house. Rashi (s.v. Mibachutz) explains that even if one has a courtyard in front of his house, he still is obligated to light by the entrance of one’s house. Tosfot (s.v. Mitzvah), on the other hand, argue that in such a case, one should light at the entrance to the courtyard, as it connects to the public thoroughfare. Although the Ran (9b s.v. Tanu) agrees with Rashi, the Tur and S”A 671:5 cite the view of Tosfot.