Letter to a rabbi about rules governing the lighting of candles
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Title:
Letter to a rabbi about rules governing the lighting of candles
Description:
Letter to Rabbi Eliyahu Guttmacher in Graetz (Grodzisk Wielkopolski) from an unidentified correspondent. The writer expresses his initial discomfort at addressing his halakhic inquiry to so prominent a rabbinic authority. The issue at hand derives from the Talmudic discussion in tractate Shabbat 21a, on the topic of “kavta zakuk lah" or not: that is, if a Hannukah light is extinguished, is one obligated to relight it or not? If one takes the position that one need not relight it, may the oil and wick be used later for the purpose of lighting another Hannukah light or for lighting a Sabbath light? The insights of Rabbi Nissim of Gerona are at the center of the discussion. R. Shmuel Heller is also mentioned in the letter. (A rabbi with this name served as the Askenazic rabbi of Safed until 1844.)