Mixing Oil Lights with Wax Candles

Q. I realize that I am almost out of olive oil and I don’t have time to go shopping. Is it better to light one candle with olive oil, and the remainder with wax, or it is better to use wax for all the candles?

A. The Mishnah Berurah (673:2) writes that all the candles must be made from the same material. If the first candle is oil, the second one must be oil as well. If oil is not available, all candles should be wax. If the candles are dissimilar, it will appear as though half the candles were lit by one person and the others by someone else. The Mitzvah of Mehadrin min Ha’Mehadrin (lighting the amount of candles that correspond to the day) will not have been fulfilled. However, each person in the family can light a different type of candle. One can light all wax, and one can light all oil. The Beir Heitev (673:1) cites a disagreement as to whether one may use olive oil for one candle and other types of oil for the rest. Some view even a change in oil as a perceptible difference that would give the appearance that there are multiple people lighting. However, other poskim do not differentiate between types of oil. They even advocate using olive oil for the first candle and using less expensive oils for the rest if it is too expensive to purchase olive for all the candles.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.