621. Doors Near the Shabbos Lights

Shabbos 5:16

If items resemble one another and can only be told apart through careful examination, one may not bring them to the light of an oil lamp to identify them out of concern that one will absentmindedly come to adjust the lamp. For this reason, a household servant who is not regularly employed is not permitted to check cups and bowls by the light of a lamp because he is not familiar with them. This applies equally to a lamp of olive oil and a lamp of kerosene even though kerosene is much brighter. On the other hand, a regular household employee may check cups and bowls by the light of an oil lamp because he does not need to check them so closely. However, if the lamp is fueled with olive oil, his employer should not direct him to check things by its light even though it is permitted as a preventive measure to ensure that he doesn’t take from the oil.

Shabbos 5:17

If an oil lamp is burning behind a door, it is prohibited to open and close the door in the usual fashion out of concern that doing so might extinguish the flame. In such a case, one must open and close the door carefully. A door may not be opened opposite a fire Shabbos so that the wind will fan the flames; this is true even if it’s just a regular breeze. A Shabbos lamp may be placed (before Shabbos) in a tree that is attached to the ground without any concern that one will come to use the tree.