Washington, DC – Just before Hanukkah, it hit Tamar Strauss-Benjamin that she would not be home for Hanukkah. And as at most colleges, candles aren't allowed in the dorm rooms. So the sophomore wouldn't be able to light her menorah.
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"It definitely bothers students to not be able to light" menorahs, said Rabbi Eli Backman, director of the Chabad group at the University of Maryland. It's a "tricky little situation. Every year, we've dealt with it differently, trying to find ways to make it work."
In a dormitory common room Strauss-Benjamin held a lighted candle to a menorah while a crowd of students sang. The menorah, on a sheet of foil stretched over an overhead projector cart, glowed brightly. A university staff member and a rabbi were there to keep an eye on things.
That type of lighting is not ideal, said Mindy Hirsch, associate director of American University Hillel, but they're trying to turn a negative into a positive, uniting the school's Jewish community.
Some students switched to an electric menorah without a second thought. And some said they were still planning to light the candles in their rooms and hope to not get busted.
Rabbi Kenneth Cohen said it's permissible to use an electric menorah, but he advised students not to say the blessings over it.
"Twisting a little bulb can't ever replace the actual fire of the candles," Hirsch said.
A few schools, including the University of Chicago, allow candles in dorms. But most don't. Fires have killed almost 90 people in student housing nationally since 2000, according to the Center for Campus Fire Safety. [journalnews]
Reb Chaim Oizer made a bracha on electric lights for havdala to show it’s aish doirisa. This would apply to incandescent bulb and not LEDs. The brocha “ner chanuka” is also problematic. The moral of the story, if your school doesn’t give you off for chanuka, you’re in the wrong school.
It should be mentioned that the absolute requirements are that:
1.one candle is enough per day, burning for a halachik half-hour only.
2. Someone should remain in the room the entire time that the menorah is burning.
3.A candle lantern or other shield can be used.
Any administration that cannot accept these should be legally challenged.
Please remember that if necessary:
1. One candle per day burning for about a half hour is adequate.
2.Someone should remain in the room while menorah is burning.
3. A candle lantern or other shield can be used.
Here is a suggestion.
Use as many of these as necssary:
1. Use only one candle per day.
2. Make sure someone is in the room the entire time that the menorah is burining.
3. About one half hour is adequate.
4.Insert the one candle into a candle lantern or some other type of shielding.
Any college administration that will not permit this should be legally challenged.