Reply To: difficulty lighting the menorah – pls help

HaLeivi – thanks. i told my brother (a minor) that he could blow out the candles – which he always likes to do after 30 min. – so that we could relight all of them again (which, as you say, it is proper – even if not necessary – to do). How can I relight if I’m going to get burnt if I stick my hand there?

As for why I’m having a problem, the candles just burn out. First, they burn very strongly, and then they die out. You’re saying that if I lit properly and one or more of the candles goes out before 30 min., it’s fine and I have no need to relight it? (The obligation is to have ONE candle per night, but we light an additional candle each successive night for hiddur mitzvah.)

Also,

we have a rule that there should be no interruption or speech between a bracha on a mitzvah and the performance of the mitzvah itself. (think tefillin, kiddush, etc.) So if I light the shamash, bless, and then it goes out before I can transfer the flame to even a single candle, I THINK it might be proper to repeat the blessings (especially if the going out of the flame causes me to speak). However, wouldn’t the previous blessings then become blessings in vain? Discuss.