Q&A: Sabbath Candles
Sabbath Candles
Question
I had an interesting case. I was in another country for a family Sabbath sheva berakhot, and my wife went to the hall to light the Sabbath candles, but by mistake she went to a different hall where there was also some celebration, and lit the candles there! After prayers we went to the actual hall, and then realized that she had not lit the candles here. So what is the Jewish law now? Are we obligated to go eat there—at least a little mezonot—or is it enough that the people who ate there benefited from the candles she lit?
Answer
It doesn’t seem to me that you need to eat there. Under the laws of Sabbath candles, even if you eat there, it is doubtful whether that would retroactively reveal that it was your place of eating. But even if that would help for the laws of Sabbath candles, there is no obligation to salvage Sabbath candles that were lit in another place. Just as there is no obligation to eat after one has made a blessing if he does not currently want to eat. Quite aside from that, when you eat in a place with electric light, in the simple sense that too is effective for the laws of Sabbath candles.
Yes, of course electricity also helps, except for the blessing she recited over the candles..