[Avodah] Men lighting Shabbat candles with a berakha

[Daniel Israel]

On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:49:19 -0700 Simon Montagu 
<simon.montagu at gmail.com> wrote:
>R. Aryeh Frimer wrote on Areivim that if a man lights his own 
>Shabbat Candles with a berakha, it's probably a *Berakha levatala.*

I don't see this.  Both the man and the women are obligated to 
light.  Universal custom is for the man to be yotzei the woman's 
lighting.  However, I see no reason why this is any different from 
any other case of being motzei someone else: if either the man or 
the woman have in mind that she is not motzi him, then he is still 
obligated and would need to make a bracha.

>How is this? I would have expected (by symmetry with the case of a 
>woman taking lulav etc.) that it's permitted for Ashkenazim and a 
>berakha levatala for Sephardim.

This case does not seem parallel to me.  There the women is not 
chayiv in that mitzvah, but if she doesn't do it herself, the man 
cannot be motzi her.  So when a takes a lulav the question of the 
bracha is because she isn't actually chayiv.  In our case, the man 
is (intrinsically) chayiv, the question is whether he has fulfilled 
his obligation with the woman's lighting.

>And what circumstances are we considering? Does it make a 
>difference if the ba`alat habayit is not at home or not able to 
light? 
>If that is the case, and if there are adult unmarried daughters at 
>home who don't have the custom to light every week, is it better 
for 
>them to light with a berakha or the ba`al habayit without?

The case where the ba'al is away and the isha is at home is 
discussed, I don't know about the reverse.  But let's stick with 
the simple case: if the woman is unable to light, then the man 
should light, with a bracha, and be motzi the whole household, as 
the woman usually is.  Asking an unmarried daughter is an 
interesting idea, but I've never heard it suggested (which doesn't 
mean much).

In fact, as I recall, the Chaye Adam specifically discusses the 
case of a man lighting because he sees that his wife is running 
late and may miss lech bentching.  (He is concerned about 
machlokes, very interesting, ayin sham.)

--
Daniel M. Israel
dmi1 at cornell.edu