[Avodah] candles

[Ilana Sober]

RZS: Chazal certainly had both beeswax and tallow candles, and called them
"nerot".

Thank you for the correction. I see in Bameh Madlikin (20b) that sha'avah
(beeswax?) is pasul as the liquid in a lamp but kosher as a "ptilah" - which
Rashi explains as "our" type of candle. Although I am not convinced that
this is what our very-very-great-great grandfathers actually used for
bedikat chametz, I am also modah that a small flame, however generated, is
significantly different from an electric bulb.

I wonder what happened when paraffin candles were invented. Did anyone
pasken that if tallow was good enough for your grandfather, it should be
good enough for you?

- Ilana