Chanukah

32. If one is planning to leave on a trip right after the proper time for kindling the Chanukah lights, he should light the menorah before leaving, even though he will not be able to remain while the lights are burning1.

It seems that the same applies if he plans to leave after plag haminchah, that he should light the menorah and make sure that there is enough oil or the candle is large enough to burn until 1/2 hour after tzeis hakochavim.

33. If one will be traveling during the hours in which one is required to kindle the Chanukah lights and unable to perform the mitzvah, he should have his wife (if she is home) light the menorah at the proper time on his behalf. Nevertheless, when he reaches the place where he will be staying, he should also kindle the Chanukah lights without a berachah. If his host has not yet lit his menorah, he should listen to the host recite the berachah and then light his menorah2.

34. If one is traveling on an airplane or train [and he does not have anyone to exempt him at home] and it is possible for him to light it there and let it burn for a 1/2 hour without posing any [fire or other] danger, he should do so with a berachah. A second possibility is to kindle just one light inside another vessel so that it should not be so noticeable to the other passengers and leave it on the table or drop-leaf in front of him. If these two solutions are not feasible, he should at least light it without a berachah and then have it extinguished, preferably through another person3.

If he thinks, under the circumstances, that he personally will have to extinguish the chanukah light before the half hour is up, then he should light it without a berachah. The abovementioned is not limited to traveling in an airplane. These suggestions apply as well to travelers on a train, bus or ship who have no other solution but to light while in their vehicles4.

35. One who is traveling on a ship or motor home is required to perform the mitzvah of Chanukah lights5.

36. If one is on a boat without a roof and the wind would extinguish any lights that he would kindle, he is exempt from lighting6.

37. It seems that the mitzvah of Chanukah lights does not apply to someone sleeping over in the open fields7.

38. Since the mitzvah of Chanukah lights is for “ish ubeiso” (“a man and his house”) there are those opinions who say that if the whole family is traveling and no one is home, then they do not have the obligation of kindling Chanukah lights8.

39. If one is in another city and staying with friends or at a hotel, he can rely on his wife’s lighting at home and does not have to participate with his host’s lighting. However, it is preferable that he light by himself as well. In such a case he should tell his wife to light a little later or he should light a little earlier so that he will be able to light with a berachah. If he can not coordinate the timing so that he lights first, (e.g. they are in different time zones or he didn’t make arrangements in advance with his wife), then he should listen to the berachah said by his host, answer “amen,” and then light his own menorah9)

40. If one is staying over in a place where there are no Jews lighting and therefore he does not see any Chanukah light, he must light by himself with a berachah, even if his wife will also be lighting on his behalf10.

41. When we say that the wife can include the husband with her lighting, it applies only if they are within the same time period. For example, if the husband is in Australia and the wife in the United States or vice versa, since in one place it is night and in the other place it is day, the husband cannot rely on his wife’s lighting. In closer places, such as the United States and Eretz Yisrael where at a certain point it is night at both places, it is questionable whether the wife can light on behalf of the husband since when the husband has the obligation to light it is still day in the United States11.

42. If one does not know whether his wife was lighting or not [on his behalf] and he comes home later that night and sees that his wife indeed did light, he must kindle the Chanukah lights, but without the berachos12.

43. One should make sure to take a sidur along when traveling during Chanukah so that he can say “Al hanissim” from the printed text13.

44. If a person will be kindling the Chanukah lights in a doorway (rather than by a window) of a room which does not have a mezuzah (e.g. in a hotel or a rented facility within the first 30 days), then the menorah should be placed by the right door post14.