On Friday night during Hanukah, it is proper to first light the Hanukah candles before lighting the Shabbat candles. We customarily light the Shabbat candles eighteen minutes before sundown, so a few minutes before then – approximately 20-25 minutes before sundown – one should light the Hanukah candles. Then the wife should light the Shabbat candles.
One should preferably recite the Minha prayer before lighting the Hanukah candles on Friday afternoon. However, this is assuming that he can pray with a Minyan before lighting Hanukah candles. If he can pray with a Minyan only after lighting Hanukah candles, then he should first light the Hanukah candles and then pray Minha with a Minyan, rather than pray privately before lighting the Hanukah candles.
When one lights the Hanukah candles in his home before Shabbat, he must ensure not to place the candles in a position where they could be extinguished when the door is opened. If the candles are positioned near the door, it would be forbidden to open the door once Shabbat begins while the candles burn, as this would violate the transgression of extinguishing a flame on Shabbat. One must therefore ensure not to place the candles near the door. Of course, if one places the Hanukah candles near a window he should ensure that the window is closed such that no wind is blowing into the home.
Finally, when lighting the Hanukah candles before Shabbat one must ensure that there is enough oil or wax to sustain the flame until after Set Ha’kochavim (nightfall). On Friday, we light the Hanukah candles approximately twenty minutes before sundown, considerably earlier than on other days of Hanukah, and they therefore must burn for a longer duration. Generally, if the candles are lit twenty minutes before sunset, they need to burn for about an hour in order for one to fulfill the obligation.
A common question arises regarding a family that goes away for Shabbat Hanukah, such as to the parents or in-laws. Assuming the entire family goes away and sleeps in their hosts’ home, where do they light the Hanukah candles on Friday night and on Mosa’eh Shabbat?
The custom among the Sepharadim is that only the head of the household lights the Hanukah candles, and guests who are staying overnight formally participate in the lighting by purchasing a portion of the oil. Thus, when a family spends Shabbat with parents, they should give the parents a few coins to acquire a share in the oil, and then they fulfill their obligation through the hosts’ lighting.
The more complicated question is when the family should light on Mosa’eh Shabbat. Often, the guests remain in the hosts’ home for a while on Mosa’eh Shabbat, such as to eat Melaveh Malka and spend time together, and then return home later in the evening. In this case, should they again purchase a portion of the hosts’ candles and fulfill the obligation through the hosts’ lighting, or should they light later that night, when they return home?
Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky (1891-1986), in his Emet Le-Yaakov, held that the family in this case should participate in their hosts’ lighting on Mosa’eh Shabbat, even though they will be sleeping in their own home. He argued that a person’s status is determined by his present location, and not by his future plans. If at the time of lighting on Mosa’eh Shabbat one is a guest at somebody’s home, he is considered part of the hosts’ household and should therefore light there, regardless of his plans. Alternatively, however, one may argue that one’s status is determined based on where he sleeps. If a person knows he will sleep at home, then it is there where he must light the Hanukah candles, even though he is currently visiting somebody else’s home. Indeed, this is the position taken by Hacham Ovadia Yosef. Therefore, if a family goes away for Shabbat, and they return home on Mosa’eh Shabbat, they should light the Hanukah candles when they return home, even if they first spend some time in their hosts’ home after Shabbat.
In some situations, the guests do not plan one way or the other, and do not decide whether or not to return home on Mosa’eh Shabbat until some point in the evening. In such a case, they should participate in the hosts’ lighting by purchasing a portion of the oil, as discussed. If they later decide to return home that night, then they should light when they return home, but without reciting the Berachot.
Summary: On Friday night of Hanukah, one lights the Hanukah candles before lighting the Shabbat candles, and should recite Minha before lighting the Hanukah candles, unless he does not have access to a Minyan until after lighting. One must ensure not to place the candles in a position where they would be extinguished by the wind when the door is opened. The Hanukah candles lit on Friday afternoon need to burn for approximately one hour, so that they burn until after nightfall. A family who goes away for Shabbat during Hanukah fulfills the obligation of Hanukah candles on Friday night by giving a small amount of money to the hosts, thereby purchasing a portion of the oil. If they return home on Mosa’eh Shabbat, then they should light in their home.
