05 Dec CHANUKAH QUESTIONS & ANSWERS WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT
Can a person who is
invited on Chanukah
to a wedding eat at
the wedding before
they light candles in
their house?
The right thing to do is light candles
at the proper time in your house and
then go to the wedding. If the wedding
starts before one is allowed to light
candles, which is plag hamincha,
you cannot light the candles. If you
light before plag hamincha and then
you’re home at the right time, then
you can light them at the right time
even though you already lit them
before. However, you should not
say a bracha again. What happens
if you are invited to a wedding or
a party and you have to leave your
home before the plag, but you’re
only going to get back late at night?
This is the most common question
I get. For example: People are going
from Brooklyn to Lakewood. If they
leave after the proper time to light
the Chanukah candles, they’ll arrive
too late to the chasuna. If they light
before they leave for the wedding,
then they will be lighting too early.
You can’t light the candles early. If
they have a choice, I tell them to light
the candles only when they get back.
There are two conditions to be met in
order to do this right: #1- Appoint
someone to remind them that they
have to light the candles. #2- When
they come back from their party they
should be careful to not just light the
candles by themselves, rather they
should have another person in the
room with them.
Can one use olive oil that does
not have a hechsher to light their
Chanukah candles, since one does
not eat it?
The Chanukah oil should preferably
be kosher. Another thing I would
add is that all extra virgin olive oil is
kosher, even if it doesn’t have a kosher
certification. So if you just buy extra
virgin olive oil to light your candles,
you don’t have a problem.
Do bakeries need to be mafrish
challah when they make donuts
and at what point do they do that?
When do you mafrish? When it’s a
liquid or a solid?
One does not need to mafrish with
doughnuts because they are not
baked; they’re boiled. Anything that
is boiled, even if it’s bread, doesn’t
need anything taken off.