Lighting to Remove Suspicion

by Rabbi Nachum Scheiner

The Acharonim explain that no brocha is recited when lighting the Chanuka menorah to remove suspicion because the mitzvah is not to light the menorah, merely to remove the suspicion.

We can bring a proof to this concept from Rav Akiva Eiger. The Shulchan Aruch writes that if someone lit the Menorah holding it in his hand, since people watching may think he is making light for his own needs, he is not yotzei, and must relight. The Pri Chodosh writes that, just like in the case of the Ran, no brocha is recited since it is just to remove suspicion, the same should apply here. Since he is relighting because of the people watching may suspect him, no brocha should be recited.

However, Rav Akiva Eiger disagrees. He asserts that there is a fundamental difference between the two cases. When someone lit on one side of the house, he has already fulfilled the mitzvah. The only reason he is lighting on the other side of the house is to alleviate suspicion, which does not require a brocha, according to the Ran. But if he was holding the menorah in his hand, since people watching may think he is making light for his own needs, it is lacking in publicizing the miracles, and he has not fulfilled the mitzvah at all. In that case, he must relight with a brocha.

We can say the same for ben pekua. When he is shechting, he is doing a mitzvah, which requires a brocha. But lighting on the other side of the house is simply to alleviate suspicion, and is not to fulfill the mitzvah, which does not require a brocha, according to the Ran.

Summary

The Ran holds that when lighting at the other door, which is to remove suspicion, no brocha is recited. The Rashba holds that, when shechting a ben pekua a brocha is recited. According to some, the Rashba and Ran are arguing. The Ran holds that a mitzvah done just to remove suspicion does not require a brocha, and no brocha is recited when lighting at the other door, which is to remove suspicion, or when shechting a ben pekua. And the Rashba holds that it is considered a mitzvah and does require a brocha, and both when shechting a ben pekua and when lighting Chanukah candles at the other door, a brocha is recited.

However, there are a number of ways to explain that there is a difference between lighting to remove suspicion, which will not require a brocha, and the shechita of the ben pekua, which will require a brocha.

1. Schechting a ben pekua is an official mandate, and requires a brocha, but lighting at the second door is not, and does not require a brocha.
2. Shechita of a ben pekua is to safe-keep the Scriptural mitzvah of shechita, and is like any other rabbinical mandate, which requires a brocha. But lighting is a rabbinical mitzvah, and avoiding suspicion for a rabbinical mitzvah, is not a mitzvah, and does not require a brocha.
3. The brocha recited at the main door will work for both doors, just like we recite a brocha on the ikar – the main part of something we eat – which works for all the other parts. But shechita of a ben pekua is done separately, and therefore needs its own brocha.
4. There is a difference between Suspicion and Maaris Ayin.
5. A brocha is only recited when they instituted a mandate to perform this mitzvah, such as shechting the ben pekua. But there is no mitzvah to light the menorah, per se, just to remove the suspicion, and if a person finds another way to remove the suspicion, that would also suffice.

Rabbi Scheiner