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 One Enter the Restroom With a Small Torah Book in His Pocket?
If the Hazan Began Reciting “Ata Honen” When Repeating the Amida on Shabbat
Tending on Shabbat to a Patient Whose Condition is Not Life-Threatening
Is One Allowed to Keep Other Items With the Tefillin in the Tefillin Bag?
Should One Expose the Tzitzit of His Tallit Katan?
Sisit: Folding a Tallit and other Garments on Shabbat
Sisit: Selling a Tallit to a Non-Jew, Hashgacha on Sisit, Using a Tallit to Clean Eyeglasses
Sisit: Folding the Tallit
Sisit: Bedsheets and the Earliest Time for Donning a Tallit
Sisit: Why Don't We Make a Beracha on a Tallit Katan?
Sisit: May One Recite a Beracha on a Tallit After Sunset?
Sisit: From What Age Should Boy Wear a Tallit?
Sisit: Using a Borrowed Tallit
Sisit: Can Sisit That Are No Longer Used be Disposed of?
Sisit: If Strings Tear
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found