Unless I have overlooked the issue, I assume that the Gra must have held no bracha should be said for Shabbos and definitely not Yomtov candles because neither has a bracha mentioned by Chazal, just like Yom Kippur.
I have the hunch that he would also say that today there is no obligation even to light candles for either shabbos or Yomtov altogether because of electricity.
David Goldman, USA
1) The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 263:5) writes that when one lights the Shabbos candles, one says a Berachah. The Gra, in his commentary there, writes that the source for this is the Talmud Yerushalmi in Perek ha'Ro'eh, the last chapter of Berachos. The Shulchan Aruch adds that on Yom Tov one must say the Berachah "to light the Yom Tov candle," and the Gra cites the source of this as also being in the same Talmud Yerushalmi.
2) In fact, the Beis Yosef (Orach Chayim #263, DH uM'Sh vY'O) quotes Rishonim who also cite the Yerushalmi that on Yom Tov one also must light candles with a Berachah. However, in the Machon Yerushalayim edition of the Tur, it is pointed out that in our editions of the Yerushalmi, the latter text is not extant.
3) One sees from there that the Gra and some Rishonim possessed a different text in the Yerushalmi, and according to this text the Berachah for Shabbos and Yom Tov candles is stated explicitly in Chazal. One sees clearly that according to the Gra one lights Shabbos and Yom Tov candles with a Berachah.
4) Of course, it is always difficult to speculate what Gedolim in earlier generations would have ruled on contemporary questions, but it is worth pointing out that it is well-known that Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, the Rav of Vilna (1863-1940), deliberately made Havdalah on an electric light in order to demonstrate his opinion that electric light is considered like fire by the Torah (see Shemiras Shabbos k'Hilchasah, chapter 61, note 105). This may be a source for those authorities who maintain that if it is not at all possible to light wax or oil Shabbos candles, one may light using electricity.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
Thank you. I guess the question that must be asked is simply why candles with s bracha are not cited in the Bavli with a condition just as is the case for shabbos candles. It is known that Yemenites did not make a bracha on Yomtov candles.
David G.
1) We have many practical Halachos that are mentioned in the Yerushalmi and are not mentioned in the Bavli. As long as there is no dispute between the Bavli and the Yerushalmi, this does not present a problem.
2) I spoke to a Talmid Chacham about this question and he said immediately that the Berachah on Shabbos candles is mentioned in the Yerushalmi. However, I pointed out that Tosfos in Shabbos (25b, DH Chovah) and the Rosh (Shabbos 2:18) do not have this text in the Yerushalmi. I then presented to him the seeming contradiction between the Rosh in Shabbos and the Rosh in the end of Maseches Bechoros (Hilchos Pidyon Bechor #1), who writes that we have never found that we make any Berachah which is not mentioned in the Mishnah, Tosefta, or Gemara, because after Rav Ashi and Ravina arranged the Gemara there are no new Berachos. How does this fit with the words of the Rosh in Shabbos that we make a Berachah on Shabbos candles based on the fact that Rav Amram Ga'on mentioned it?
3) He answered that the Rosh in Bechoros refers only to a Berachah which is not made on a Mitzvah, but rather is a Birkas ha'Shevach, with which we praise Hashem. In contrast, a Berachah on a Mitzvah does not have to be mentioned in the Gemara. This is because the Gemara in Pesachim (7b) states that one makes a Berachah on all Mitzvos before one does the Mitzvah. It follows that it is stated explicitly in the Gemara that one makes a Berachah on all Mitzvos, so one may make a Berachah even if the actual words of the Berachah are not stated explicitly in the Gemara.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
As always, thank you for your reply. What I find so puzzling is the need over the centuries to rely on statements not found in most manuscripts of the Yerushalmi and could have merely been marginal notes integrated into the text. Indeed, where there are even glaring contradictions in the texts of rishonim we might to consider if one or the other statement was inadvertently included by a printer.
Anyway, we certainly would definitely want to stick to the requirement of referring to specific brachos and gezeyras in the Talmud BAVLI that are more than explicit (or alternatively do not appear there at all) rather than trying to legitimize something that is not easily sourced especially in our Bavli.
Second, R. Amram Gaon lived about 300 years after the closing of the Talmud Bavli, however the concept of divrei kabbalah as a binding source of law seems also to be puzzling (interestingly, R. Moshe Feinstein did not even refer to it when discussing whether electricity eliminates the need for shabbos candles), and it would seem that considering "divrei kabbalah" as equivalent to the Talmud itself is problematic whether or not such "divrei kabbalah" are widely followed or not. This includes the issue of the bracha "nosen layaef koach" which many communities did not recite at least before it was included in most siddurim EVEN if it was called "divrei kabbalah" (compare with the bracha "she'asani Yisroel"!).
Kind regards,
David G
1) The Ra'aviah lived a long time before the invention of printing and his text of the Yerushalmi in the 4th chapter of Beitzah has the beracha "Lehadlik Ner Shel Yomtov". Furthermore, at the beginning of Hilchos Yomtov the Ra'aviah also cites the Yerushalmi in the last chapter of Berachos, where the beracha is slightly different:- "Lehadlik Ner LeChovod Yomtov". Similarly he writes that in Yerushalmi Berachos the berachas for Shabbos candles is "LeChovod Shabbos". At any rate, the Ra'aviah found these berachos in 2 different places in the Yerushalmi.
2) In addition the Hagohos Maimonies, a Rishon printed in almost every edition of the Rambam Hilchos Shabbos 5:1, #1, also cites the above Yerushalmi from Beitzah and Berachos. Also the Mordecai Shabbos #294 cites the above Yerushalmi Berachos for Shabbos and Yomtov.
3) I recall that sometimes in the Chidushei Ramban on Shas, he asks questions on the Geonim and brings proof against them, but in the end he usually says he does not dispute the Halacha of the Geonim, because what they wrote was received from the Amoraim. This applies even to the Geonim who lived not long before the period of the Rishonim. The reason that their Kabalah is so reliable is because for hundreds of years they lived in Bavel, where the Gemara took form, and there had not been persecutions and exiles which would have led to a weakening of the tradition. The Geonim were the head of the Yeshivos in Sura and Pumbedita, where the Gemara itself was compiled, so they possesed a continuos uninterrupted heritage from the Rabbis of the Talmud.
4) See Maharatz Chayes Ta'anis 16a in the name of Yad Malachi that the majority of the Bavli originates from the Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi is the primary source. The Ra'avad Hilchos Kerias Shema 3:6 writes that the way of the Rambam is to rely on the Yerushalmi. This all indicates what great authority the Yerushalmi posseses.
KOL TUV
Dovid Bloom
Very interesting!
It could be my imagination, but I'm thinking that maybe we find more variation and discussion about the exact wording of Birkas Hamitzvos than other brochos, which could be for this reason. For example on Hallel (likro/ligmor etc), tevila of one keli (keli/kelim), eruv chatzeros & tavshilin combined (..eruv / eruvin), and some other infrequent mitzvos (I forget now where) there is machlokes of "Al..." or "Li..."
Meir Eliezer Bergman
Manchester UK
1) The Gemara Berachos 50a tells us that one can recognize from a person's berachos whether he is a Talmid Chacham or not. Rebbe said that if someone says, in the Beracha of Zimun, "Betuvo", we live "through Hashem's goodness", he is a Talmid Chacham but if he says "Mituvo", "from his goodness", he is an ignoramus because he is limiting the bounty of Hashem.
2) The sugya about whether one says "Le-Va'er Chometz" before checking for Chometz, or "Al Biur Chometz", is in Pesachim 7a-b. The Rosh there cites the above Gemara in Berachos and writes that even though "Le-Va'er" should apparently be perfectly good, nevertheless if one says "Al Biur" this is better because it proves that he is a Talmid Chacham and aware of the chidush that it is also appropriate to say "Al" before a Mitzva. So we see that the sort of beracha for which the Gemara praises a person for being eloquent, is not a Birkas HaMitzvos but rather a Birkas Hanehenin on the enjoyment of food. From berachos on eating, the Rosh derives the Halacha for Birkas Hamitzvos.
3) At any rate anyone who learns the 6th chapter of Masecehes Berachos (which deals primarily with berachos on food) sees how particular we are about any sort of beracha.
Many thanks to everyone for your important contributions to this fascinating sugya.
KOL TUV
Dovid Bloom