The Role of a Woman The Gemara (Shabbos 28a) states than a katan— someone under bar or bat mitzvah— who lit ner Chanukah has done nothing, meaning that other household members cannot fulfill their obligation through the katan’s performance of the mitzvah. However a woman can certainly light for the household, as women are obligated in ner Chanukah since they too were involved in the miracle of Chanukah.
The Shulchan Aruch (675:3) quotes these rules and adds: Some say that a katan who has reached the age of chinuch, education, can light for others: The reason is that Chanukah is a rabbinic obligation, and a katan is also obligated miderabanan.
The Mishna Brurah (13) says that the Shulchan Aruch does not follow the view that a katan who has reached the age of chinuch may read for a gadol (adult) concerning the Megilla on Purim, which is also of Rabbinic origin. Therefore, on Chanukah the parallel situation in which a katan attempts to discharge a gadol’s obligation in ner Chanukah would likewise not be effective. However, one can make a distinction as follows.
A katan’s action cannot discharge a gadol’s personal obligation, such as Megilla, but on Chanukah, since the mitzvah obligation falls on the household, as long as the candle has a status of ner Chanukah, such as that of an educable katan, it fulfills the obligation of the household.
Our custom is that every male lights with a bracha to fulfill the mitzva better, which is referred to as mehadrin. The Mishnah Berurah (9) adds that a woman may make a bracha on her additional ner Chanukah, as she can on any other time-dependent mitzvos aseh such as lulav and sukkah. This statement is very difficult to understand since a woman is obligated in ner Chanukah and must make a bracha even if, as the Shulchan Aruch rules and is the Sephardic custom, she may not make a bracha on sukkah and lulav.
The answer is that a woman is not required to perform the additional level of mehadrin. But, this too is difficult. Why is she different from a man?
Apparently, women’s involvement in the Chanukah miracle obligates them to publicize the miracle. This obligation, known as pirsuma nissa must be obvious to any onlooker. So firstly, it is obvious that a person is looking at a ner. It is not obvious, however, that halachically one person’s lighting can fulfill the lighting obligation of all household members. Therefore, women are included only in the obligation of looking at ner Chanukah, not lighting the ner. Of course if a woman lives alone she must light a ner in order to be able to see it. However, she has no inherent obligation to light.
As a result, the idea of mehadrin, meaning that all household members light separately, is incumbent only on men who are required to light. Women need not do so. If they volunteer, however, they can make a bracha just as when they volunteer to fulfill sukkah and lulav.
In many homes women do not volunteer to light their own mehadrin ner. Why is this so? The Mishna Berurah says (677:16) that a married woman is not included in mehadrin. If she volunteers, her bracha may be a bracha levatala. Therefore, even single women do not volunteer, to avoid either a bracha levatala or the eventual feeling of disappointment, upon getting married, over discontinuing their custom to light ner Chanukah |
