Many families sing Chanukah songs before lighting the menorah, unlike on Shabbat, when the candles are lit before we say the blessings. Is that how it should be or are we supposed to refrain from singing songs and reciting the Chanukah blessings until the menorah has been lit? What is the proper way to do this in Judaism?

According to Jewish law (halacha), one is required to say a blessing before one performs a mitzvah that is “beyn adam la-Makom,” i.e. those rituals and other religious obligations that are “between people and God.”[1] Lighting Chanukah candles & lighting Shabbat candles both fit into this category of mitzvah-observances that require blessings before their performance.

On Chanukah, we are required by Jewish law to recite the blessings “l’hadlik ner shel Chanukah” and “she-asah nisim” (and “she-he-cheyanu” on the first night of Chanukah) before we light the candles. The only other required prayer associated with Chanukah candle-lighting is “Ha-Nerot Hallalu” (“These Lights”), which one begins after the first candle is lit and completes while lighting the other candles.[2] Thus, the only required ‘songs’ on Chanukah are the candle-lighting blessings and “Ha-Nerot Hallalu.” Although the legal codes do not require that we sing “Maoz Tzur” (“Rock of Ages”), it has become a long-standing custom in Ashkenazic households to sing “Maoz Tzur” after the candles are lit. In most Sephardic households, Psalm 30, “Mizmor Shir Chanukat Ha-Bayit,” is recited instead of “Maoz Tzur” after the candles are lit. All other Chanukah songs (including such favorites as “I Had A Little Dreidl,” “Oy Chanukah,” and “S’vivon Sov Sov Sov”) are optional and may be recited before or after the candles are lit.

Regarding Shabbat candle-lighting, it may seem that the mitzvah is performed before the recitation of the blessing, but this is not the case. Striking the match or otherwise igniting the flame of the Shabbat candles does not constitute the mitzvah-act; the mitzvah consists of deriving benefit or enjoyment (“ha-naah”) from the Shabbat candles, which does not take place until after we recite the blessing. The reason we cover our eyes with our hands while reciting the blessing over Shabbat candles is so that we do not derive benefit from the light until after the recitation of the blessing.[3] Covering our eyes enables us to ‘hide’ the candles from view after igniting the flames so that it is ‘as if’ we recited the blessing before lighting the candles.

According to Rabbi Moshe Isserles,[4] there was a dispute among the Rishonim (earlier halachic authorities) over whether the blessing should be recited before or lighting Shabbat candles. Some maintained that the blessing should be said before Shabbat candle-lighting, like all of the blessings that are recited before the performance of ritual mitzvot. Others held that the blessing should be said after the candle-lighting, because once one recites that blessing, one has accepted Shabbat upon her/himself and is then forbidden to kindle a fire[5].  The accepted custom of covering one’s eyes with one’s hands while reciting the blessing, “l’hadlik ner shel Shabbat,” is a means of accommodating both of these points of view; one ignites the flame before reciting the blessings, but one recites the blessings before ‘seeing’ and deriving benefit from the light.