Lighting menorah on low table

amother

Firebrick

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 4:44 am

We live in Australia and if little kids are lucky enough to stay up for menorah (or if they light their own earlier), they go straight to bed after!

Shkia is currently after 8:40

Iymnok

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 4:50 am

Elfrida wrote:

I think the point is that they want to light next to the door, and need something to stand the Chanukiya on. A regular table is large, and rather hard to move around, and depending on the shape of the room might block the door. A small table like a coffee table is easier to move around, but tends to be much lower.

Is there a problem with a stool or a barstool? Someone mentioned something about low being better. I only know that there is a minimum and maximum heights, no perfect height.

Elfrida

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 5:11 am

Iymnok wrote:

Is there a problem with a stool or a barstool? Someone mentioned something about low being better. I only know that there is a minimum and maximum heights, no perfect height.

No problem that I know of, but a table might be a bit more stable. It probably depends what you have in the house.

In England we lit on the windowsil, but my father had a very large chanukiya, that didn't fit on the windowsil, so he lit on a little table. Now we're in Israel, we light outside.

Mayflower

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 5:23 am

I think lighting on a low table (as opposed to a regular height table) comes from the Shulchan Aruch that states that preferably the menorah should be placed above 3 tefachim and lower than 10 tefachim (if this refers to the height of the flames).

ChossidMom

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 7:49 am

Elfrida wrote:

No. Nothing to do with being hard to move around.
This is the minhag in our chassidus (a Polish one).
Pirsumei Nisa is done INSIDE the home. Opposite a Mezuzah. Not at a window for people outside to see.

Elfrida

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 8:06 am

Mayflower wrote:

Ten tefachim is quite high. Its also the maximum hight of your sukkah. The average table would be well below that.

SwissAlps

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 8:21 am

Elfrida wrote:

Ten tefachim is quite high. Its also the maximum hight of your sukkah. The average table would be well below that.

If that was the maximum height of a sukka that would be quite low. A tefach is 2-3 inches high. 10 tefachim is about 20 to 30 inches high which is 50 to 75 cm high.

Frumme

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 10:25 am

amother RosePink wrote:

This practice is intended for those who light outside. Obviously, the family goes indoors and the kids won't knock over the menorah.

If you are lighting indoors, you're probably better off lighting at a window, where there's a chance of pirsumei nisa.

Respectfully, I think you are thinking of a different practice. I'm discussing lighting across from the menorah in a doorway, not lighting outside. The people I know in my circles who light the menorah are not putting it outside but are leaving it inside, on a low table (hence my apprehension)

Frumme

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 10:27 am

Iymnok wrote:

Is there a problem with a stool or a barstool? Someone mentioned something about low being better. I only know that there is a minimum and maximum heights, no perfect height.

Thinking about it now, I know a family that lights on a narrow bar-height table

amother

RosePink

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 11:25 am

Frumme wrote:

I understood you. I was saying that people are following a protocol for lighting
outdoors even though they are lighting inside. You're right that the setup that works outside isn't ideal inside.

Frumme

Mon, Dec 26 2022, 11:49 am

amother RosePink wrote:

I understood you. I was saying that people are following a protocol for lighting
outdoors even though they are lighting inside. You're right that the setup that works outside isn't ideal inside.

I understand now, that makes sense. Probably people following customs that made sense in other countries and adapting them to new environments.

Reminds me of the joke about the woman who cuts the ends off of her brisket before cooking ("just like her mother and grandmother did"). Then one day her grandmother visits and asks why the granddaughter is cutting off the ends of her brisket before cooking seeing as the granddaughter has a full size oven....