[Avodah] candles

[Zev Sero]

Michael Kopinsky wrote:

> R. Chaim Twerski of Chicago (my 11th grade rebbe) paskens that you can 
> use a flashlight/torch for bedikas chametz, b/c it fits all four of the 
> advantages listed in the gemara of a candle over an avukah/torch - the 
> light goes forward and not backward (whatever that means in the case of 
> candle vs. torch), it is easy to shine into nooks and crannies, the 
> light doesn't flicker, and I seem to have forgotten the fourth one.

It won't set the house on fire.  It also won't drip on kelim and make
them treif, or on clothes and make them dirty.

I've just finished helping my parents search their house, and while
searching a wardrobe I of course had to be careful not to bring the
candle too close to the clothes.  In order to look under and behind
hanging clothes, I put the candle down at a safe distance, used both
hands to hold the clothes aside, and looked using the room's electric
light.  A torch/flashlight would theoretically have made for a better
bedikah, because there would be no concern about starting a fire.


-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas