Hi,
May one use an electric chanukiah?
The consensus of many authorities is that electric lights do not fulfill the mitzvah. The reasons include:
1. At the time we light, there must be enough fuel present for the flame to last for the entire period; electricity is continuously generated.
2. We require direct kindling, as takes place when one touches a flame to a wick; flipping a switch or pressing a button is an act of indirect lighting (grama).
3. The point is to commemorate the original menorah, which employed fuel and wick.
4. Each flame is supposed to be a single flame, not a medurah (lit. bonfire), since the original menorah had a single flame for each wick. A filament, which arcs horizontally, is a medurah.
The consensus of many authorities is that electric lights do not fulfill the mitzvah. The reasons include:
1. At the time we light, there must be enough fuel present for the flame to last for the entire period; electricity is continuously generated.
2. We require direct kindling, as takes place when one touches a flame to a wick; flipping a switch or pressing a button is an act of indirect lighting (grama).
3. The point is to commemorate the original menorah, which employed fuel and wick.
4. Each flame is supposed to be a single flame, not a medurah (lit. bonfire), since the original menorah had a single flame for each wick. A filament, which arcs horizontally, is a medurah.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef says that one who cannot light a standard
chanukiah should use an electric chanukiah without a berachah. [Apparently, he
is not concerned lest onlookers view this as acceptance of an electric
chanukiah in general.]
(Har Tzvi Orach Chaim 143; Dvar Halachah (R' Kletzkin) 36;
Meorei Eish 5:2; Tzitz Eliezer 1:20:12; Yabia Omer 3:Orach Chaim 35)
Have a great day,
Mordechai
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