RRT 9-10

SYNAGOGUE SABBATH CANDLES PREKINDLED

QUESTION:

If there is some objection to lighting the candles on Friday night in the synagogue because it is already dark, would it be proper to have the candles lit earlier, possibly by a non-Jew (or by a Jew, well before the Sabbath), and then during the service for a woman of the congregation to bless the candles which have already been lit? (Asked by Rabbi Jack Segal, Houston, Texas.)

ANSWER:

I HAVE NEVER written on this situation, and it is a very interesting one because, in a way, there is an analogy to it which might justify this practice.

As you know, all blessings must be given immediately before the action which is blessed takes place. If you make a blessing over bread, the bread must be eaten without delay, etc. Now this creates a problem with the Sabbath lights. By normal practice at the home table, the mother should recite the blessing and then light the lights. But the problem with Sabbath lights is this: Which of the two actions, the reciting of the blessing or the actual kindling of the lights, converts the evening from weekday to Sabbath? It is possible that the reciting of the blessing makes it the Sabbath. In that case, how can the woman light the lights if it is already Sabbath? This would be a profaning of the Sabbath. But should she light the lights first? If it is the lighting of the lights that makes it Sabbath, there would be no violation of the Sabbath in reciting the blessing. However, the rule is that the blessing must come before the action (over l’asioson). How can she solve the dilemma? She lights the lights first, covers her eyes so as not to see the light, recites the blessing, removes her hands from her eyes, and sees the light immediately after the blessing. This explains the custom of the mother covering her eyes and solves the legal problem of how to avoid violating the Sabbath.

If it is the custom now in your synagogue to have the lights lit first, then what can be done is this: The lights could be screened by some nicely embroidered screen, and then, when the woman comes up to bless the lights, the first thing she does is to recite the blessing, and then she can remove the screen so that she and the congregation will see the lights. This would be a fair analogy to what is done at home.