- Shabbat and Holidays
- Laws of Hanukkah
- Peninei Halkha - Hanukkah
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- Peninei Halakha
31
^ 15.This custom is cited in SA 676:5, Darkhei Moshe ad loc. 2, Sha’ar Ha-kavanot of Arizal, Kaf Ha-ĥayim ad loc. 31. The halakha that one should stand next to the new candle on the left is stated explicitly in Ĥayei Adam ad loc. 154 and MB ad loc. 11. I would add that by standing to the left of the candles, the person lighting avoids being considered one who turns to the left when lighting the first, leftmost candle, because he is simply lighting the candle closest to him; and from there, he turns to the right. There are two additional customs that we will mention. 1) Maharshal and the Vilna Gaon maintain that one should first light the candle closest to the doorpost (whether one placed the candles to the left of the doorway, as one should do, le-khatĥila, or to its right) and continue lighting the rest from there. They believe that one should start with this candle because it is the one that fulfills the main requirement of the mitzva, while the rest are lit in order to follow the custom of mehadrin. This, in their opinion, is more important than lighting from left to right. 2) Taz’s opinion is the inverse of the accepted opinion. He maintains that turning to the right means that one begins to light on the right side and then continues to the left. According to him, one lights the leftmost candle on the first night, because it is the closest to the left doorpost. MB and BHL ad loc. elaborate on these opinions and state that one fulfills his obligation no matter which way he lights.
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