Lighting Candles for Yom Tov

SETTING THE TABLE

A tablecloth should cover the table during Jewish festival meals, but you may remove and switch tablecloths. Even if you have a beautiful and valuable table, you should still cover it for Jewish festival (and Shabbat) meals.

JEWISH FESTIVALS: WHEN MEN START

Jewish festivals begin for men at sunset or when they say “bar'chu” in ma'ariv, whichever comes first.

JEWISH FESTIVALS: WHEN WOMEN START

As for Shabbat, Jewish festivals start for women when they light candles or at sunset, whichever is earlier.

CANDLES: WHO LIGHTS

Like Shabbat candles, Jewish festival candles should be lit only by one person per home. Priority order: wife; then husband; then children.

It is customary for each married woman to light candles on each festival even though she is not eating in her own home and even though her hostess is already lighting candles. She may light her candles at her hostess's house or at her own home (but if at her own home, she must see the candles are burning after dark if she lights there).

Girls should not be encouraged to light Jewish festival candles except when no parent can.

Single people should light Jewish festival candles in their homes if they will eat there.

Have Others in Mind

Whoever is lighting the Jewish festival candles should have in mind all other people who will be eating dinner in that home.

WHEN TO LIGHT

You may not light Jewish festival (or Shabbat) candles before plag ha'mincha.  The candles must burn until at least dark (tzeit ha'kochavim) and someone must be there to see the light from the candles after dark.

SITUATION:  Mincha minyan begins at plag ha'mincha. You cannot light candles at home and still get to mincha minyan on time.

WHAT TO DO: You may light a candle without a blessing, just so you can have a flame for after the festival has begun. You go to synagogue and after ma'ariv you return home and light the candles from the flame which was burning from before sunset. If you will not have a flame burning from before sunset, you must say mincha on your own (anytime from half an hour after mid-day until sunset). You will light candles after plag ha'mincha but before sunset and not join the mincha minyan. Women should skip mincha and light candles either 18 minutes before sunset or have a flame burning from before sunset and light candles from that flame once the festival has begun (but she may not light from a new flame or a match).

Candle-Lighting Times

In most countries, candle lighting time is 18 minutes before sunset. In Jerusalem, many people have the custom of lighting candles 40 minutes before sunset.

Lighting Two Days

The custom is to light candles:

Before sunset on the first day of a Jewish festival, and

After dark on the Jewish festival's second day (except when the second day coincides with Shabbat!).

Lighting after Sunset

Men and women may light candles after sunset on Jewish festivals, with these conditions:

You may light only from an already-burning flame.

You may not light Jewish festival candles after sunset on Friday nor on the evening before Yom Kippur begins.

Lighting with Delay until Sunset

As on Shabbat, you may say “I am lighting Jewish festival candles but not starting the Jewish festival until sunset” to delay observing the Jewish festival until sunset, but this in only b'diavad.

NOTE: As for Shabbat, women should not routinely start Jewish festivals at sunset since the proper time for women to begin Jewish festivals is at candle lighting (typically 18 minutes before sunset).

WHERE TO LIGHT

Dinner Location

As on Shabbat, light Jewish festival candles wherever you will eat dinner that night.

NOTE: If you will be eating away from home, do not light the candles at home unless you will be home for some period of time after dark (in which case you must see the candles burning for at least one minute after dark/tzeit ha'kochavim; otherwise you will have made a bracha l'vatala). This is not the ideal situation, as the ideal is to light where you will eat.

NOTE: You do not need to light candles at all if you are not eating at your own home on the Jewish festival (this applies to men and women, even wives and mothers who normally light at their own home) as long as someone else is lighting candles where you will eat. While the basic halacha is that the hostess lights for everyone, it is a widespread custom for any woman who is--or was--married to light at the hostess's home.

HOW MANY TO LIGHT

As on Shabbat, wives should light two candles for Jewish festivals, even though we say the blessing over “ner” (“candle” in the singular). Lighting any more than two candles is a universal custom.

How Many To Light when Eating Elsewhere

A wife lighting Jewish festival candles in a place other than her own home lights only two candles, even if she normally lights more than two candles in her own home. This is a non-binding custom, not a halacha.

Adding a Candle

Unlike on Shabbat, on Jewish festivals you do not add an extra candle to the number you normally light for the rest of your life if you miss lighting Jewish festival candles.

HOW LONG TO BURN

As on Shabbat, Jewish festivals candles must burn at least until you have eaten the bread of ha'motzi.

HOW TO LIGHT

On the first day of Jewish festivals, both women and men may say the blessing before lighting the candles, but it is customary for women to light before they say the blessing, as they do on Shabbat.

YAHRZEIT CANDLE

Some people have the custom of lighting a yahrzeit candle for a deceased parent on days when yizkor is said: Yom Kippur, last day of Passover; second day of Shavuot; and on Shmini Atzeret.

Copyright 2015 Richard B. Aiken. Halacha L’Maaseh appears courtesy of www.practicalhalacha.com Visit their web site for more information.