ת"ר מצות חנוכה נר איש וביתו, והמהדרין נר לכל אחד ואחד, והמהדרין מן המהדרין: ב"ש אומרים יום ראשון מדליק שמנה מכאן ואילך פוחת והולך, וב"ה אומרים יום ראשון מדליק אחת מכאן ואילך מוסיף והולך...
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[one] is not obligated to [relight] it and [one] is permitted to use its light; Rabbi Zera said that Rav Matna said, and some say it [thus]: Rabbi Zera said that Rav said: The wicks and oils that the Sages said [we] don't light with them on Shabbat, we [may] light with them on Chanukkah, whether on Shabbat [of Chanukkah] or on the weekdays. Rabbi Yirmiyah said: What is Rav's reasoning? He is thinking: If it goes out, [one] is not obligated to [relight] it, and [one] is forbidden from using its light. The Sages said this [teaching] before Abbaye in the name of Rabbi Yirmiyah, and he did not accept it; when Ravin came, they said this [teaching] before Abbaye in the name of Rabbi Yochanan and he accepted it. He said, "If I had merited, I would have learned [i.e., accepted] the teaching from the outset! - But behold, [in the end] he learned [i.e., accepted] it! - the practical implication is for the [virtues of] the [rehearsed] learning of one's youth. "If it goes out, [one] is not obligated to [relight] it" - they threw [a contradictory source] against it: "Its mitzvah is from when the sun sets until the foot is gone from the marketplace". Is this not [implying] that if it goes out, [one] is obligated to [relight] it?! No, [it's implying] that if he didn't light [immediately after sunset], he [still] lights [until "the foot is gone..."]; alternatively, for [indicating] it's measuring [of duration]. "Until the foot is gone from the marketplace" - and until how [late is that]? Rabba bar bar Chana said that Rabbi Yochanan said: Until the foot of the Tarmodian [caste] is gone. Our Sages taught: The mitzvah of Chanukkah is a [single] candle for [each] man and his household, and those who are scrupulous: A candle for each and every one, and the scrupulous among and the scrupulous among the scrupulous: Beit Shammai says: The first day he lights eight, from here going [forward], he goes on reducing, and Beit Hillel says: The first day he lights one, from here going [forward], he goes on adding. Ulla said They argued about it - two Amoraim from the West [i.e., Eretz Yisrael]: Rabbi Yosi ben Avin and Rabbi Yosi ben Zevida. One said: the reasoning of Beit Shammai is: to correspond to the days which are entering,and the reasoning of Beit Hillel is: to correspond to the days which are going out; [the other] one said: the reasoning of Beit Shammai is: to correspond to the bulls [offered on Sukkot] and the reasoning of Beit Hillel is that [we] raise up in holiness and [we] do not lower. Rabbah bar Bar Chanah said that Rabbi Yochanan said: There were two elder [scholars] in Tzidon, one did like the words of Beit Shammai, and [the other] one did like the words of Beit Hillel. This [one] gave reason for his words [i.e., actions] - corresponding to the bulls [offered] on Sukkot, and this [other] one gave reason for his words: that [we] raise up in holiness and [we] do not lower. Our Sages taught: The Chanukkah candle - it is a mitzvah to place it at the door of his house, on the outside, and if he was living in an attic [i.e., with no direct access to public areas], he places it in a window adjoining the public area and in times of danger [i.e., persecution], he places it on his table and it is sufficient for him. Rava said: He needs another light [in order] to use its [i.e., the Chanukkah candles'] light and if there is a hearth-fire, he doesn't need [another light], but if he is a wealthy man, even though there is a hearth-fire, he does need another light. What is Chanukkah, that our Sages taught: On the 25th of Kislev - the days of Chanukkah, they are eight, not to eulogize on them and not to fast on them? When the Greeks entered the Temple, they polluted all the oils in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked and they found but one cruse of oil that was set in place with the seal of the High Priest, but there was in it only [enough] to light a single day. A miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year [the Sages] fixed those [days], making them holidays for praise and thanksgiving. We taught there [in a Mishnah]: A spark that goes out from under the hammer, [if] it went out and damaged, he [i.e., the smith] is liable. If a camel was loaded with flax and passes in the public domain and the flax enters [i.e., protrudes] into a store and it catches fire from the storekeeper's candle and sets the whole area [lit.: group of buildings] ablaze, the camel owner is liable. If the storekeeper set his candle outside, the storekeeper is liable. Rabbi Yehudah says: With a Chanukkah candle, he is exempt. Ravina said: This implies. [that for] the Chanukkah candle, it is a mitzvah to set it within ten handbredths [from the ground], for if it occurred to you [that it is acceptable] above ten handbreadths, let him [i.e., the camel owner] say to him [i.e., the storekeeper]: "you should have set it above camel and rider!" But perhaps, if we trouble him so much, he will come to refrain from the mitzvah! Rav Kahana said: Rav Natan bar Manyumei expounded in the name of Rav Tanchum:
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(א) כַּמָּה נֵרוֹת הוּא מַדְלִיק בַּחֲנֻכָּה. מִצְוָתָהּ שֶׁיִּהְיֶה כָּל בַּיִת וּבַיִת מַדְלִיק נֵר אֶחָד בֵּין שֶׁהָיוּ אַנְשֵׁי הַבַּיִת מְרֻבִּין בֵּין שֶׁלֹּא הָיָה בּוֹ אֶלָּא אָדָם אֶחָד. וְהַמְהַדֵּר אֶת הַמִּצְוָה מַדְלִיק נֵרוֹת כְּמִנְיַן אַנְשֵׁי הַבַּיִת נֵר לְכָל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד בֵּין אֲנָשִׁים בֵּין נָשִׁים. וְהַמְהַדֵּר יוֹתֵר עַל זֶה וְעוֹשֶׂה מִצְוָה מִן הַמֻּבְחָר מַדְלִיק נֵר לְכָל אֶחָד בַּלַּיְלָה הָרִאשׁוֹן וּמוֹסִיף וְהוֹלֵךְ בְּכָל לַיְלָה וְלַיְלָה נֵר אֶחָד:
(1) How many lights do you kindle 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. To exalt the mitzvah, one may kindle light according to the number of people in the household, a light for each and every person, whether they are men or women. One who wishes to further glorify this and performs the mitzvah in the most choice manner kindles a light for each person on the first night and adds on following nights one light.
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והמהדרין מן המהדרין. נראה לר"י דב"ש וב"ה לא קיימי אלא אנר איש וביתו שכן יש יותר הידור דאיכא היכרא כשמוסיף והולך או מחסר שהוא כנגד ימים הנכנסים או היוצאים אבל אם עושה נר לכל אחד אפי' יוסיף מכאן ואילך ליכא היכרא שיסברו שכך יש בני אדם בבית:
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.)
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שבת כ"א ב
ת"ר נר חנוכה מצוה להניחה על פתח ביתו מבחוץ, אם היה דר בעלייה מניחה בחלון סמוכה לרה"ר, ובשעת הסכנה מניחה על שלחנו ודיו
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מבחוץ - משום פרסומי ניסא ולא ברה"ר אלא בחצרו שבתיהן היו פתוחין לחצר:
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מצוה להניחה על פתח ביתו מבחוץ. ומיירי דליכא חצר אלא בית עומד סמוך לרה"ר אבל אם יש חצר לפני הבית מצוה להניח על פתח חצר
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...אמר רבה נר חנוכה מצוה להניחה בטפח הסמוכה לפתח והיכא מנח ליה רב אחא בריה דרבא אמר מימין רב שמואל מדפתי אמר משמאל והילכתא משמאל כדי שתהא נר חנוכה משמאל ומזוזה מימין:
a Chanukkah candle which one placed above twenty cubits is invalid, like a sukkah and a mavoi And Rav Kahana said: Rav Natan bar Manyumei expounded in the name of Rav Tanchum: That which is written, (Genesis 37:24): "And the cistern is empty, there is no water in it"? From the implication of what is said, "the cistern is empty", do I not know that there is no water in it? Rather what is it teaching? that there is not water in it, but there are snakes and scorpions in it! Rabbah said: The Chanukkah candle - it is a mitzvah to set it in the hand-breadth abutting the door (lit. - "opening") And where does he set it? Rav Acha son of Rava said: on the right; Rav Shmuel from Difti said: on the left. The halachah is that it is placed on the left, so that there will be the Chanukkah candle on the left and the mezuzah on the right. Rav Yehudah said that Rav Assi said: It is forbidden to count money opposite the Chanukkah candle. When I said this before Shmuel, he said to me: Is there holiness in the candle?! Rav Yosef attacked this: And is there holiness in blood, yet it is taught: "And he shall pour out...and he shall cover" (Leviticus 17:13) - he covers with that [i.e., his hand] which he poured, so that he may not cover it with his foot, so that mitzvot not will not become degraded for him. Here also, [the reason is] so that mitzvot not become degraded to him. They asked of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: What is [the law regarding] utilizing the sukkah decorations all seven days [of the festival]? He said to them: Behold they said: It is forbidden to count money opposite the Chanukkah candle. Rav Yosef said: G-d of Avraham! They have made a [Tannatic] teaching dependend upon a non-[Tannaitic] teaching, [for the law regarding]... sukkah is taught [by Tannaim] and [the law regarding] Chanukkah is not taught [by Tannaim], for it is taught [in a baraita]: If he covered it with schach in accordance with its law and crowned it with fabrics and decorated sheets and hung in it nuts, peaches, almonds, pomegranates, clusters of grapes and crowns of rain-stalks, wines, oils, and fine flour - it is forbidden to utilize of them until the night after the last holiday of the festival. [However], if he conditioned it, everything is according to his condition. Rather, Rav Yosef said: Blood is the basis [lit.: father, archetype] of all of them. It was said [by Amora'im]: Rav said, [we] do not light from candle to candle and Shmu'el said, [we] light; Rav said, [we] do not untie tzitzit from garment to [tie them on another] garment and Shmu'el said [we] do untie tzitzit from garment to [tie them on another] garment; Rav said, the law is not like Rabbi Shim'on regarding dragging [a bench on Shabbat] and Shmu'el said the law is like Rabbi Shim'on regarding dragging. Said Abbaye: In all matters Master [i.e., Rabbah] did like Rav except for there three, which he did like Shmu'el: [we] light from candle to candle, and [we] untie tzitzit from garment to [tie on another] garment and the law is like Rabbi Shim'on regarding dragging, for it is taught [in a baraita]: Rabbi Shim'on says: A man may drag a bed, a chair or a bench [on Shabbat], as long as he does not intend to make a furrow. A certain rabbinic [scholar] sat before Rav Ada bar Ahavah, sitting and saying [that] the reasoning of Rav is because of degrading the mitzvah. He [Rav Ada bar Ahavah] said to them: don't heed him! The reasoning of Rav is because of reducing the mitzvah! - What is [the practical difference] between them? There is a practical difference between them: When one lights [directly] from flame to flame. The one who said because of degrading the mitzvah - from flame to flame one may light; the one who says because of reducing the mitzvah - from flame to flame is also forbidden! Rav Avia responded [bringing a baraita]: A Sela [coin of a specific denomination] of