#625: Even the Poor Must Light a Menorah
Shulhan Arukh OH 671:1 on the Laws of Hanukkah
צריך ליזהר מאוד בהדלקת נרות חנוכה ואפילו עני המתפרנס מן הצדקה שואל או מוכר כסותו ולוקח שמן להדליק:
One needs to be very diligent in kindling the Hanukkah lights. Even a poor man living off charity must beg or sell his clothes in order to buy oil to kindle with.
Gimme Some Torah #625
Our normal impulse would be to say that somebody who depends on charity should spend money only on those things that are absolutely necessary, such as clothing, shelter, food, water, and medicine. So it is surprising that the Shulhan Arukh and other codes of Jewish law require those who receive charity to spend the money necessary to light their own Hanukkah menorahs.
Moreover, those who survive on charity must either beg from door to door or sell their clothes (obviously not all of them) in order to purchase the oil (or candles) that are needed for the mitzvah of lighting the menorah.
Why does Jewish law require those who depend on charitable donations to go to such lengths to perform this mitzvah? Here are two possible reasons:
The light of the Hanukkah menorah (aka hanukiyah) represents hope, and hope is something that is just as necessary as all the other things listed above. In fact, without hope, none of those other needs means much.
Lighting a Hanukkah menorah is a concrete declaration of one’s Jewish identity. Even those who live off of charity have not only the right but the obligation to make that declaration. We should never make basic mitzvot available only to those who can afford them. It’s fine to charge more for a gorgeous menorah or the finest olive oil or the very best Israeli beeswax candles, but the basic mitzvah must be affordable for everybody.
The Mishnah Berurah’s comment on the Shulhan Arukh makes the requirement both more clear and less onerous:
AND EVEN A POOR PERSON ETC: [The reason for this law is] because of the necessity of publicizing the miracle of Hanukkah.
A poor person lighting a menorah publicizes the miracle even more effectively than a rich person doing the same mitzvah. When a poor person lights the menorah, it is a powerful act of faith. A rich person might also be very faithful, but one who is poor depends on that faith. His visible religious act is, therefore, more powerful in the eyes of onlookers.
BEG: He should beg door-to-door or sell his clothes or sell his labor, but he is not obligated to do this for more than one candle per night [of Hanukah]
The basic minimum for lighting a menorah is one candle or one oil lamp per night, i.e. lighting just one light each night, not an increasing number. Now that we live in times of unprecedented abundance, almost everyone can afford to light one additional candle per night, ending with eight. The minimum, however, remains the same.
Happy Hanukkah!
