DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 792 KB)
Chanukah- If One Forgot to Light

The Aruch Hashulhan (halachic work by Rabbi Yehiel MichelEpstein,1829-1908, OC 670:8) discusses the case of someone who did not light one night of Chanukah. He rules that he has lost the misva for that day. There is no significance to lighting the next day, because the obligation is only at night. Even if he would artificially create a darkened room, there is no misva.

However, he can and should continue to light on subsequent nights with a beracha. Even if he missed all seven nights, on the last night he would light eight candles with a beracha. This ruling is a rejection of the opinion brought in the Beit Yosef that compares the halacha of Chanukah with Sefirat HaOmer. If one forgot to count a day of the Omer, he does not continue to count with a beracha.
The Aruch Hashulhan explains that the nature of the obligation of lighting on Chanukah is fundamentally different from the obligation of counting the Omer. The emphasis of the Omer is on counting consecutive days. Therefore, if one forgot a day, the entire series is lost. Whereas, on Chanukah, each night stands by itself. In fact, the primary obligation is only to light one candle for each night.

SUMMARY: If a person missed a night of lighting on Chanukah, he does not light the next day, but he does continue to light on subsequent nights with a beracha.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
May a Woman Apply Makeup During Abelut?
Nail-Cutting During Abelut
If Somebody Did Not Observe Abelut After a Parent’s Passing
If a Woman is in Mourning and Her Husband Insists That She Join Him at a Social Function
Extending a Greeting to a Mourner
Halachot of Proper Conduct in a Cemetery
Eulogies and Memorial Gatherings on Days When Tahanun is Omitted
The Obligation to Bury the Deceased
A Mourner’s Exemption From Misvot Before the Burial as it Applies to Sissit, Charity, Berachot and Sefirat Ha’omer
May a Mourner Attend His or Her Child’s Wedding?
Is it Permissible for a Mourner to Move Into a New Home or Renovate His Home?
Wigs Made From the Hair of a Deceased Person
Sheloshim – The Thirty-Day Mourning Period
May a Kohen Attend the Funeral of a Non-Jew?
Abelut: Reciting Birkat Ha'lebana, Studying Torah, Hallel, and Birkat Kohanim
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found