- Q. Kvod Harav Shlit’a. In our Shul we light the Chanuka candles between Mincha and Maariv. It is then mostly already after the Shekiah, yet sometimes not? is that correct, How about at home?
A. Let me answer the second question; Shulchan Aruch (O.H. 672: 1) rules that “you do not light the menorah before the shkiah and one opinion is that in need you may light after plag hamincha” [one and a quarter hour (zmaniyos) before nightfall]. Mishna Berura (ibid. 3) adds that you can light with a brocho.
Nonetheless Shevet Halevy (4: 66) advises that it is better to light using an agent and on the right time rather than lighting oneself before the shkiah (after plag). A few Poiskim also maintain that you should avoid kindling before the shkia and if you have too you should not recite a brocho (Piskey Teshuvos ibid.Nitey Gavriel, Chanukah 3: 11).
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman Horav, Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a
Important Numbers
