On erev Shabbos, Imma decided to take a ten-minute nap before candle lighting...
After opening her eyes, and taking a look at her watch, she said with a trembling voice: “Oh wow! I cannot believe it! It’s 5 minutes past shekiya. And I did not the candles!”
Her 5-year-old son, Benny who happened to be there and observing this, said to Imma: “Imma, why don’t you ask Maria - our non-Jewish neighbor to light the candles for you?”
“I like your idea, Benny, but I don’t know how to hint that to her,” said Imma.
“Why not just tell her exactly what she needs to do, Imma?” asked Benny, “Simply say: “Maria—I forgot to light my Shabbos candles and I cannot light them now because Shabbos has started. Could you light them for me please?”
Question: Did Benny give a good advice?
Hints & Answers
SHMIRAS SHABBOS: The Shulchan Aruch (261:1) rules that during the Bein Hash’mashos period, one may ask a non-Jew to light a candle (since it’s for a mitzva need - Mishna Berura). Rebbi Akiva Eiger (Hagahos on the Shulchan Aruch 261:1) learns that it’s permitted to ask a non-Jew to light even more than one candle — and especially two candles (i.e., because all Shabbos candles are considered to be for a mitzva need).
ASK AROUND YOUR SHABBOS TABLE: In last week’s parsha, after the chet ha’egel, Moshe Rabbeinu took away the two crowns that each Yid received on Har Sinai for saying “Na’aseh” before “V’nishma” - for promising to listen to Hashem’s every mitzva even if their reasons are hidden from us. The chet ha’egel was a failure in that promise. And that’s the first tikun that Moshe Rabbeinu wanted Bnei Yisroel to make - build the Mishkan even without knowing what its purpose will be.
RHYME: “greens”.
RIDDLES:
- When Korach gathered the people to join him in his plot, the Torah says (Bamidbar 16:19): וַיַקְהֵל עֲלֵיהֶם קֹרַח אֶת כָּל הָּעֵדָּה
- כָּל מֵרִ ים תְרוּמַת כֶסֶף וּנְחֹשֶת (Shemos 35:24)
- Kiyor. The Torah says that it was made from copper that came from mirrors that Jewish women donated to the Mishkan.
*Note: The answers are based only on the sources quoted and might not reflect opinions of other halachic authorities. As such, Menucha’s answer are not to be taken as final decisions in halacha, but rather as a springboard for discussions, questions to a moreh hora’ah.
