If I lit Shabbat candles and they later extinguished, what should I do?

Greetings,

If you noticed this before sunset, it is a mitzvah to relight them without a blessing. And if you have already accepted Shabbat (as is the custom among Ashkenazi women who accept Shabbat with the lighting of the candles), you can ask your husband or any other person who has not accepted Shabbat to light the candles for you—without a blessing.

Sources: Apparently, there is no obligation to relight the Shabbat candles since lighting fulfills the mitzvah, as the Magen Abraham (Orach Chaim 263, 23) writes in the name of the Mordechai. This is also stated by the Eliyah Rabbah (Orach Chaim 586, 1) and the Pri Megadim (Mishbetsot Zahav, 586, 1), and contrary to the view of the Taz there. The Mishnah Berurah also rules this way (Orach Chaim 586, 48).

Based on this, Rabbi Mordechai Brisk wrote in the responsa of the Maharam Brisk (Part 2, 47) that if one lit from things that are permissible to light, and they extinguished, one is not required to relight them, as the mitzvah is fulfilled through the lighting.

However, in the responsa Yabia Omer (Part 2, Orach Chaim 17, Letter 2) it is written that if they extinguished, one needs to return to light them because the purpose of the mitzvah is for peace in the home, which is not analogous to the Chanukah candle, where the main announcement of the miracle occurs during the lighting. And although it is also written regarding Shabbat candles that the lighting fulfills the mitzvah, it is not exactly the same as the Chanukah candle. However, it was not clarified in his words if one should relight with a blessing.

In the book Berkat HaBayit (Part 2, Gate 45, Paragraph 24) it is decided that if the candles extinguished after making the blessing, if it is before twilight, someone who has not accepted Shabbat can relight them in their place and recite a blessing on them. But if there is even one that did not extinguish, he should not bless. Similarly, it is stated in the book Chut Shani (Part 4, Chapter 83, 6) that if it extinguished by itself, it seems that one should bless. And likewise concluded in the book Halacha Brurah (Part 15, in the responsa Otzrot Yosef, 3) that one should relight with a blessing, unless there was electricity on in the house at the time the candles extinguished, and it was lit for the sake of Shabbat, then one should not relight and bless.

In contrast, in the book Chovat HaDar (2015 Edition, Page 104, Note 10) it is his opinion that there is no need to bless again. Likewise, it is ruled in the book Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchata (Part 2, Chapter 43, Paragraphs 16, 37) that if the candles extinguished during the day due to wind or the like, there is a mitzvah to relight them, and they should be lit by someone who has not yet accepted Shabbat. And if a blessing was made at the time of lighting, he should not bless again.

The allowance to ask someone else to light the candles even if you accepted Shabbat is based on what is written in the Shulchan Aruch (end of Orach Chaim 263) that some say that one who accepted Shabbat before it got dark is allowed to tell a Jewish friend to do labor for him, and the Rema wrote that it is permissible to enjoy that labor on Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hillel Meirs