Ayelet Lights A Menorah

Based on True Halachos

Yehuda Dov Reiss
Everyone gathered into the assembly room with their backpacks. All phones had
been confiscated before the assembly so that students would pay attention. It was right
after art class, and the principal was going to make an important announcement.
“Attention, attention please,” he called from the podium. Everyone quieted down.
“Chazal tell us that the world continues to exist due to the Torah learning of children.
According to my research, every location where there’s Torah learning creates a field of
protection with ripple effects across the world, covering the whole world with protection.
Several years ago I discovered that the Torah learned in this particular school presents a
key line of defense in this field of protection. If the Torah learning here were stopped, that
protection would collapse and it could make the entire world vulnerable to destruction.
That is why I infiltrated this school as your principal - so I could stop all the Torah learning
and take over the world.
“Unfortunately, despite my and my teacher’s efforts to teach in a way so convoluted
and demotivating that you wouldn’t learn anything, some students have still managed to
learn something - whether through programs like the Chidon HaTanach or by reading
Halachic Fairy Tales. Well, no more! I’m locking all of you up without any access to Torah
learning until the world is mine!”
All the teachers proceeded to lock all the exits with iron chains. Only one door
remained unlocked, behind the podium.
There was a stunned silence. The kids all knew that principals and teachers were
evil, but they didn’t realize they were that evil.
All the teachers walked up to the podium and stood behind the principal, some with
cold stares and some with evil grins on their faces.
“We will be closely monitoring cameras throughout the auditorium to make sure you
don’t cause any trouble,” the principal announced. “Anyone trying to escape will be duly
punished. Good night.”

1
 With that, he and the other teachers filed out of the exit. The last to leave was the art
teacher, who always seemed to be the nicest teacher in the school. Just before she exited the
room, she turned to face the students, a serious expression on her face.
“At least you’ll be able to light the menorahs you made in art class. It’s very
important you fulfill your mitzvah to light the menorah,” she said cryptically. With that, she
exited the door. The students heard the lock click behind her. They were trapped.
“What are we going to do?” All of the hundreds of kids turned to look at Ayelet.
Everyone knew of her legendary defeat of the evil camp director the previous summer1. She
always had the answer.
“Tonight is Chanukah, so the first thing we have to do is light our menorahs,” she
said.
“But we don’t have candles to light with,” a kid named Yishai said.
“Wait! There’s some candles in this box in the corner!” A boy named Yakir said.
“But there’s only enough for five kids to light, plus an electric menorah,” Yamin said.
“Well, lighting the electric menorah is out of the question,” Ayelet said. “Even if it’s
incandescent and you rely on those opinions that say it’s like fire and can be relied on in a
difficult situation, Rav Willig has noted that if we allow electric menorahs when there’s no
choice, some people might use it when we don’t have to, and he believes they should never
be used.”
“But which five people should use the candles?” Yosef Chaim asked.
“Well, most people have parents who will be lighting at home, and that will fulfill
their obligation as well,” Ayelet said. “While it’s certainly a hiddur for them to light as well2,
we just don’t have enough candles for that.” She then raised her voice and announced,
“Everybody, raise your hand if, for whatever reason, your parents won’t be lighting at home.
3
”

1
See Ayelet Goes to Camp, based on true halachos. Contact unityparsha@gmail.com for a free PDF.
2
(Note that unspecified sources refer to Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim.) Firstly, the level of mehadrin min
hamehadrin is for every household member to light themselves according to Ashkenazim, and secondly,
677:3 MB 16 implies that even if someone’s lighting for you elsewhere, it’s best to light oneself, albeit
without a beracha.
3
A previous version of this story mistakenly cited Rav Willig that a woman cannot light for a man. This is
not the case; in Am Mordechai Rav Willig has an explanation of why lighting candles is different in that a
woman can light for a man, which is explicit in the Gemara, as opposed to Megillah, which a woman
cannot. He explains that a woman’s obligation stems from her obligation in pirsumei nisa, to publicize the

2
 Ten students raised their hands.
“That’s still way more than five,” Shira said.
“Well, anyway you can only light in a place that’s considered your place of residence.”
Ayelet remembered. “So only students who live in the dormitory could probably count the
school as one of the places they live.”
“But you’re in elementary school, and there’s no dorm,” Dovid Baruch pointed out.
“That’s only in real life, but in the story anything’s possible,” said Esther, who was
flying near the ceiling with Bracha.
“What about the non-dormers who need to light? What should they do?” asked
Simcha.
“They could be mishtatef biprutah,” Shimon said. “By giving a small coin to the
dormers, they could share the mitzvah with them.4”
“Yes, but ideally they should light themselves (according to Rav Soloveitchik, in
addition to giving a coin, but without a beracha5) to do the mitzvah mehadrin min
hamehadrin6,” Moshe said.
“There’s a bigger problem,” Ephraim Yehuda told Ayelet. “The obligation to light in
your place of residence wouldn’t include the whole building - only the place where people
live. In a dorm, maybe it would include areas where dormers would feel comfortable acting
in ways they wouldn’t in public, like walking around in pajamas or bath towels, but nobody
would do that in the auditorium. Dormers would only be able to light in their rooms or the
lounge.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Ayelet responded. “The Rama and the Chazon Ish rule that
ideally you should light in your place of eating if that location is different from your place of
sleeping (though Rav Moshe and others disagree). Since the auditorium doubles as the
school cafeteria, any dormers would be able to light here.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Aharon said.

miracle, which plays a more all-encompassing role in lighting candles as opposed to in Megillah. His full
analysis is beyond the scope of this story.
4
677:1
5
They should be yotzei by answering amen to the resident’s berachos. This solution is recommended by
Rav Willig. Others (e.g. Tzitz Eliezer) hold that it is not necessary to be mishtatef biprutah and one may
light their own candles with the berachos.
6
677:1, MB 2,3,7.

3
 “Yeah, - nobody eats in the Caf,” Sarah said. “The cafeteria monitors are so mean,
everyone takes their food and eats in the dorms or the classrooms.”
“Oh, right,” Ayelet sighed. “I guess we’re back to square one.”
Just then, a voice crackled on the loudspeaker.
“Attention! Later tonight, cots will be brought into the room for you all to sleep on
and food rations will be provided. It looks like you’ll be locked up here for a long time, so
get comfy - the auditorium is your new residence.” The loudspeaker beeped off.
“Well, that solves that problem7,” a different Aharon said. “Even a temporary resident
is considered a resident for Chanukah candles.8 But we still have way more people than
candles!”
“Well, me’ikar hadin you only need one lighting per house, and everyone else can be
yotzei with that without even having to give money,” Hannah pointed out.
“Yes, but we want to do things mehadrin min hamehadrin, if we can,” Avraham Meir
said.
“I have an idea,” Ayelet declared. She marched over to the box of candles and started
breaking them in half.
“What are you doing?” Yehuda Dov screamed at her angrily.
“These are very long candles, and it says on the box they can last more than an hour,”
Ayelet said patiently. “To fulfill the mitzvah of lighting they only have to be able to stay lit for
half an hour.9 This way, we can make every candle into two candles.”
“You’re so smart,” Yehuda Dov said admiringly.
Ayelet set up the menorahs on a table.
“Wait,” Yechiel Michel said. “You don’t want to put the Menorahs right in front of
each other if you can avoid it. You want to spread them out so you can clearly see how many
candles each one has lit.10”
“I’ll rearrange them,” Shifra Yehudis said as she rode her stroller up to the tables.
“There’s no windows in here,” Yechiel Shalom pointed out.
7
We are assuming here that we paskin dirah ba’al korchah shmei dirah.
8
Maharsham rules that even a traveler on an overnight train who has his own compartment is considered
to have established a temporary residence there for purposes of lighting. My father argues that this would
extend to a hotel stay as well.
9
672:2
10
671:2

4
 “That’s okay,” Ayelet said. “It’s better to light in the doorway or window when
possible, but we hold that the main pirsumei nisa nowadays anyway is for the people
inside11, and all of us can look at the menorah. Still, we can’t light yet - we have to wait till
around tzeis for the ideal time to light (though some hold the ideal time is the second shkia,
around fifteen minutes earlier)12. Rav Willig says since me’ikar hadin tzeis is only around
twenty six minutes or so after shkia this time of year, (at least in the NY area; in Israel it’s
about fourteen minutes), you can always light at 5 o’clock.”
A few minutes later, the doors to the auditorium burst open and a cart of food was
pushed into the room. The door was quickly shut and locked up again.
“This is your dinner for tonight,” a voice crackled on the loudspeaker.
The students unpacked their meals. There were sandwiches, noodles, cheese, and
fruit.
“It’s 4:30, a half hour before lighting time,” Ayelet said, “and you’re not supposed to
start eating a meal, even if it’s mezonos, during this time, or start any other significant
activity.13 If you want, you can eat less than an egg volume of mezonos, and you can have
fruit and cheese as a snack.”
They all waited until the clock turned five.
“Wait! Before we light us boys need to daven Maariv!” Dovid Baruch said.
“Can’t they do it after?” Ayelet asked.
“No, you’re supposed to daven first since it’s a more frequent mitzvah,14” Yishai said.
“But really we should have lit candles earlier then,15” Ephraim Yehuda said. “I guess
we were all so preoccupied we forgot.”
About fifteen minutes later, they finished davening and then the ten students said
their berachos and lit their menorahs. After lighting the first candle, they began saying
haneiros halalu16.

11
672:2, MB 5 (discussing how for this reason you can light bidieved the whole night [with a brachah as
long as other family members are up], even though nobody’s outside), 671:5 (regarding the ability to light
privately in times of danger).
12
672:1, MB 1
13
672, Shaar HaTzion 14
14
672:1, MB 1
15
Ibid. Note that some authorities argue but advise to at least prepare the oil before davening.
16
676:4, MB 8. This reflects the general custom, but some only say haneiros halalu after lighting all the
candles, and some omit it entirely. Rav Soloveitchik notably holds, based on Meseches Sofrim, that

5
 “Now we can eat the sandwiches, but since it’s Chanukah, we should make this into a
seudas mitzvah by singing Chanukah songs or sharing divrei Torah17,” Ayelet said. “There’s
an inyan to eat dairy since the miracle happened through dairy (Yehudis fed the king cheese
to get him thirsty, drink wine, and fall asleep), so we should have some cheese, too.18”
“What are you up to?”
The principal burst into the room.
“Just playing dreidel,” Yechiel Michel said. He had quickly formed a circle on the floor
with Shifra Yehudis and Yechiel Shalom and pulled out a dreidel. Meanwhile, several other
students tried standing in front of the menorahs to conceal them.
“Nice try, but I saw you lighting your little fires from my cameras. Well, light away.
You think your little menorahs can save you from my evil plans?”
“We don’t know what will save us or if we’ll be saved,” Ayelet declared, “But the
lights of the menorah remind us that no matter how dark things may be, Hashem is still
with us and we’ll keep hoping and fighting for things to get better.”
“We’ll see about that,” the principal said.
Suddenly, the smoke from the menorahs rose up to the smoke alarm on the ceiling.
The fire alarms began to go off and the sprinkler system was activated19. In all the chaos, the
students began to bolt for the door, which the principal had left unlocked.
“Stop!” The principal screamed, jumping to block the door. Just then, Esther and
Bracha swooped down from the ceiling and tackled him to the ground. Everyone ran out.
Just as everyone was going outside, the fire department and the police pulled up to
the school. Ayelet told them everything, and the principal and the teachers were arrested.
“This is a really wild story, kid,” the fire chief told Ayelet. “You know, it reminds me a
lot of this other story I was reading recently - something about mezuzahs in camp and an
evil camp director. That was also very strange.”
“Yeah, my brother has some really weird ideas,” she said.20

Haneiros Halalu is a vital part of the mitzvah of neiros chanukah as it functions as pirsumei nissah, similar
to the Haggadah and Megillah.
17
670:2
18
ibid.
19
Even though this caused the flames to go out, they were still yotzei their mitzvah since at the time of
lighting it could have stayed lit for a half hour.
20
For more fun educational Chanukah content, see TheGreekTakeover.wordpress.com. For more short stories and
Halachic Fairy Tales, or to subscribe to the United We Stand Parsha sheet, contact unityparsha@gmail.com.