The gemara Shabbos 47b says that even on Erev Shabbos one may not place a vessel with water in it under a candle in order that any sparks emitted by the flame should fall into the water, because it is a form of extinguishing a fire. Yet many homes put water underneath the oil in their Shabbos can...
to edit it for print. My problem is that none of the existing answers do the question justice, as I've learned by reading the Aruch Hashulchan cited in GG's answer.
... It deserves an answer that offers the AH"Sh's entire explanation, which each of the three answers provide only a bit of.
I am considering replacing it, as a companion for "What's the best way to make wick-and-oil work for Chanukah?" with a couple of other practical questions on the same theme which aren't particularly advanced but are useful:
It seems that with wax candle menoras, the shamash is generally lit first and used to light the other candles, but with an oil menora this is not possible. So should you light the shamash before the other oil lamps, or after? And what should you use instead of the shamash to light all the oil l...
When you light olive oil in a metal menora, some of the oil invariably finds its way into the cracks between parts of the menora. How do you remove this residue?
When lighting my Menora, saying the relevant Brachot, and lighting the Shamash, what order should I follow?
I think the best way is:
1. Shamash
2. Brachot
3. Chanukah-Lights
But someone said, the right way is:
1. Brachot
2. Chanukah-Lights
3. Shamash
What do poskim say?
@IsaacMoses hmm, having reread the question you're struggling with, I understand the dilemma. And just the otehr day I saw one of the proposed replacements go by and thought "hey, how'd we miss that?".
The oil-residue one is very short -- a short question and a single short answer.
The oil+shamash one is interesting because it highlights an assumption that I think many of us make (I sure did): that you must use the shamash to light the others. But that's (apparently) not correct; you need to light all the lights somehow, and the shamash is there for its light, but it doesn't have to be a helper. So including that one to dispel this myth is appealing.
And if it turns out there's room at the bottom of the page, you could always slip in the oil-residue one as a bonus. Or not.
@IsaacMoses so IMO, definitely use this one (use of shamash on an oil menora), and then if there's room you can tuck in the cleanup one. The "when to light" one is interesting (I've had that question) but the part of that answer that addresses the question is an inference, and the rest of it is about the use of the shamash (so overlaps the first question).
When lighting my Menora, saying the relevant Brachot, and lighting the Shamash, what order should I follow?
I think the best way is:
1. Shamash
2. Brachot
3. Chanukah-Lights
But someone said, the right way is:
1. Brachot
2. Chanukah-Lights
3. Shamash
What do poskim say?
