[Avodah] Why is it customary for women and not men to light the Shabbos candles?

Prof. Levine via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Fri Sep 1 09:52:34 PDT 2017


At 11:31 AM 9/1/2017, R Akiva Miller wrote:



> > The Shulchan Aruch (ibid) explains that women were awarded
> > this mitzvah because they are the ones who primarily prepare
> > the home for Shabbos.
>
>Ummm... That's not what I see in the Shulchan Aruch cited, i.e. 263:3.
>The worded there is "muzharos", which does NOT mean this mitzva was
>"awarded" like some sort of gift or medal. "Muzharos" refers to a
>level of responsibility, and the Shulchan Aruch explains exactly why
>this responsibility is theirs: "The women are more muzharos in this,
>because they are found at home, and they are involved with the needs
>of the home."
>
>In simple terms: If a woman has the role of homemaker, then lighting
>the lights is part of that!

Am I to deduce from this that if the man has the role of 
homemaker,  then he should light the Shabbos candles?

Also,  today many Orthodox women work outside of the home,  given 
that it is very difficult for an Orthodox family to survive on one 
salary.  Even though women may stay home when the children are 
young,  most go to work once the kids are old enough for some sort of 
schooling. Given that roles today are much different than they were 
in the past,  does this mean that who lights the Shabbos candles 
should be shared,  one week the man and one week the women.  (I am 
simply playing the devil's advocate here.)


>Suffice it to say that as a matter of historical record, we *would* be
>in Gan Eden today if they had not done what they did. So why not do
>something to help repair the darkness that was caused by that sin? I
>think that's all the Tur is saying.

You wrote, if they had not done what *they* did.  Since both of them 
did this,  shouldn't both men and women repair this darkness,




>Finally, the OU writes:
>
> > Though men do not light the actual candles, the Mishnah
> > Berurah (263:12) writes that the husband should set up the
> > candles. Furthermore the Mishna Berura (264:28) informs us
> > that the minhag is that the husbands should light the wicks
> > and extinguish them so that when the wife lights the neiros
> > the wicks will easily catch fire.
>
>It is my opinion that the word "neiros" here must be carefully
>understood as oil lamps and NOT as candles. In my experience, a plain
>piece of fabric that has drawn the oil into it will be wet and
>difficult to ignite; this can be remedied by lighting it to create a
>charred end, which is extinguished and will be easier to light later.
>In my experience, if one tries this with a candle, it will be
>counterproductive, because the exposed wick will burn away and be
>*more* difficult to light later on.

Do you know of anyone who lights the Chanukah neiros (which are 
usually oil with wicks), puts them out and then lights with the 
brochos?  I have never heard of this.  If there is no problem with 
Chanukah neiros,  then why is there a problem with Shabbos neiros?

YL




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