חלק שני : חנוכה- כמה מדליקים?

The Sages taught in a baraita: The basic mitzva of Hanukkah is each day to have a light kindled by a person, the head of the household, for himself and his household. And the mehadrin, i.e., those who are meticulous in the performance of mitzvot, kindle a light for each and every one in the household. And the mehadrin min hamehadrin, who are even more meticulous, adjust the number of lights daily. Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagree as to the nature of that adjustment. Beit Shammai say: On the first day one kindles eight lights and, from there on, gradually decreases the number of lights until, on the last day of Hanukkah, he kindles one light. And Beit Hillel say: On the first day one kindles one light, and from there on, gradually increases the number of lights until, on the last day, he kindles eight lights.

And Mehadrin of the Mehadrin (beautiful of the beautiful)... It seems to R"I that Beis-Shamai and Beis- Hilel refer only to "Man and his household" (i.e. to fulfilling the Mitzvah of Chanukah candles by the head of the household alone on behave of his entire family), because in this way there is more beautification of the Mitzvah because there is something recognizable when he keeps adding or leaving out (candles) which corresponds to days that are entering (the days of Chanukah still to come, i.e. position of Beis-Shamay) or exiting (the days of Chanukah that have already passed, i.e. position of Beis-Hilel). However, if he makes a candle for each one (i.e. each member of his household gets his own candle), even if he adds (candles) from this moment and onwards, there is nothing recognizable, because (the people) would think that so is the number of people in the household. (i.e. in this case, instead of attributing the increase or decrease in candles to the intention of the owner to match the corresponding day of Chanukah, people would attribute it to the intention to match the number of people in the household.)

How many lamps should one light on Chanukah? It is a commandment that one light be kindled in each and every house whether it be a household with many people or a house with a single person. One who enhances the commandment should light lamps according to the number of people of the house — a lamp for each and every person, whether they are men or women. One who enhances [it] further than this and performs the commandment in the choicest manner lights a lamp for each person on the first night and continues to add one lamp on each and every night.

How many lights should one kindle? On the first night, he kindles one [light]. From then on he continues to add one each night, until on the last night they are eight. And even if the household members are many, they should not kindle more. Rem"a: And some say that every one of the household members kindles (Maimonides) and such is the widespread custom. And they should take care to each place their lights in a unique place, so that it will be apparent how many lights they are kindling. (Abraham Kara of Prague)

There are different traditions regarding how to fulfill the custom of mehadrin min ha-mehadrin in practice. According to Sephardic tradition, the main way of beautifying the mitzva is to light the number of candles that corresponds to the current day of Ḥanuka. Even if there are many people living in one home, only one of them should light Ḥanuka candles, and he should light the number of candles that corresponds to the current day of the holiday. That is, he lights one candle on the first night, two on the second, and eight on the eighth. The reason for this is that the goal of the custom is to show how many days the miracle lasted, as this publicizes the miracle more. If everyone in the house were to light candles within the small space adjacent to the doorway, passersby would not be able to recognize which day it is, because everyone’s candles would appear conjoined and confuse the tally. Since according to this custom only one person lights, it is proper for the head of the household to light on behalf of everyone else. If the children ask to light candles, their parents may let them light their own Ḥanuka candles, as long as they are careful to create a separation between each individual menora. According to the custom of most Sephardim, children who light Ḥanuka candles do not recite a berakha, but R. Mordechai Eliyahu ruled that children under the age of bar mitzva may recite a berakha. R. Shalom Messas ruled that if someone over the age of bar mitzva wants to recite a berakha, he should have in mind not to fulfill his obligation through his father’s lighting and may then beautify the mitzva by lighting the candles with a berakha (Yalkut Shemesh, OḤ 192). Lighting the Ḥanuka Candles / The Ashkenazic Custom: Men, Women, and Children According to Ashkenazic custom, each member of a household must light his own candles in order to fulfill the custom of mehadrin min ha-mehadrin. That is, on the first night everyone lights one candle and on the eighth night everyone lights eight. We are not concerned that onlookers will not know how many candles are being lit on any given night, because we are careful to separate between the various menoras.