With Chanukah just a couple of days away, it's important to learn the ins and outs of the laws of the holiday. Join us as Rabbi Moshe Elefant explains whether you can cook or bake while the menorah is lit.
Women are more particular in this custom, because as we know, Yehudis was the one who caused that the Greek governor should perish, and when his soldiers saw that he no longer was alive, They panicked and fled, and that was the beginning of the miracle of Chanukah.
There is a very common, well-known custom women don't do work while the menorah is lit. Let's try to understand the details of that custom. First question, is that a custom that only applies to women or to men as well? So there are people that say that both men and women should not work during that time that the menorah is lit.
What that means is, if you have a menorah that's going to be on for a couple hours, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do any work for that entire time. The custom is only for the first half an hour, because the mitzvah is fulfilled with the menorah being on for 30 minutes.
So, women are much more careful in not doing work during that time, more than men. They also, the question is, what does it mean that we don't do, the women or men, don't do work during that time. There are those that say it means work like laundry, sewing, but cooking and baking and working in the kitchen is permitted.
But Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky says that it's preferable during that half an hour a woman should designate the time not to do work and maybe the entire family should just take that time to reflect on all the nisim, all the miracles Hashem does for us.
For more Chanukah learning:
What can a Menorah be made from?
