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A Yissachar / Zebulun Partnership in Loving Memory of Yishak ben Simcha A"H & Felicia bat Miriam A"H
Rabbi Gabriel Koskas

Halacha Lesson of the Day

Candles inside the sukkah

Lectured by Rabbi Gabriel Koskas

Published
August 11, 2026
Duration
03:31

This transcript was auto-generated and polished for readability. While we aim for accuracy, errors may occur. If you notice a mistake, please click to submit corrections.

Since we were talking about Hadlakat Nerot (candle lighting) on Yom Tov (festival day), Shabbat, Yom Tov, and Yom HaKippurim, this one case is very interesting. Based on everything we studied, from the beginning of the purpose of Hadlakat Nerot, the reason why the Chachamim (sages) instituted this mitzvah (commandment), and all the minhagim (customs) that come with it, where on Sukkot should one light the nerot (candles)? Inside the sukkah (booth)? It's the only place that would make any sense. The whole reason was to have Oneg (pleasure). Oneg of Shabbat and Oneg on Yom Tov are very similar. I know there's Simcha (joy), but it's all the same sukkah. At the end of the day, it's all based on the seudah (meal). So, indeed, most poskim (halachic authorities) say that the place to light the nerot on Sukkot is inside the sukkah. Do you know anyone who lights nerot inside the sukkah? Nobody. So what is the purpose of lighting nerot outside the sukkah? You can have the meal inside the sukkah. Why are you going to tell me? It's for practical reasons.

First of all, it's windy. It's probably in sukkah, especially if you're in Miami. It's very hot, so you have a lot of fans and you have wind. You can buy glass compartments—I don't know what you call them. You have to look for them, and you put your nerot out there. That would be the best way to do this mitzvah. If somebody didn't or doesn't have that, or doesn't care, then Plan B is to light inside the house. But if you light inside the house, there is a halakha (Jewish law) is similar to somebody who is invited out for the meal. The person has to have some hana'ah, some benefit from the nerot. So you're going to have benefit from the nerot. You have to sit by the nerot and have some kind of hana'ah. It would be the exact same halakha on Sukkot. If you're in the wrong place, you have to have hana'ah from that.

It could be an issue of safety also. By the way, this box is great because it will probably also take care of the safety issue. A sukkah could be dangerous, but if somebody takes the precautions, it should be fine. But if somebody didn't do that and lights inside the house like most people do, then what are you lighting for? Who is there watching? Who is there enjoying the light? Nobody? So it doesn't work. The only way to light in another place is to enjoy it, like somebody who's invited out, or somebody who lights inside their room because they're sleeping by their in-laws, or whatever their case may be. Halakha, they have to enjoy that light.

So on Sukkot, if somebody couldn't light inside the sukkah for whatever reason, halakha is going to have to have, I don't know, a conversation next to the nerot for a couple of minutes and enjoying the light of the nerot. If the person doesn't enjoy the light of the nerot, there's no justification in lighting the nerot in that place, and therefore that's halakha: they have to do the halakha inside the sukkah. If the person for whatever reason couldn't do it, then they would have to light the nerot inside the house, I guess, and have a moment of enjoyment of the light of the nerot in order to fulfill the mitzvah.