Playback speed

Shabbos 2:1-2

Shabbos 2:1

The following may not be used as wicks for Shabbos lights: cedar fibers, un-carded flax, silk debris, willow fiber, desert grass, and plants on the surface of the water. The following may not be used as oils for Shabbos lights: pitch, melted wax (as opposed to wax candles), castor oil, unclean terumah oil that must be burned, oil from the tail, and oil from the forbidden fats. Nachum the Medean says that one may use oil from forbidden fats that have been cooked but the Sages say that one may not use them regardless of whether or not they have been cooked.

Shabbos 2:2

One may not light on yom tov using unclean terumah oil that must be burned. Rabbi Yishmael says that one may not light using pitch residue on Shabbos – it’s disrespectful because it has an unpleasant odor. The Sages permit one to use any type of oil: sesame oil, nut oil, radish oil, fish oil, seed oil, pitch residue or naphtha (a petroleum distillate). Rabbi Tarfon only permits one to kindle Shabbos lights using olive oil.

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz