Chanukah Lighting at a Hotel/Hospital

I am planning to visit my mother in the hospital during the Chanukah vacation and will be staying in a hotel over Shabbos for one or two days. Do I have to light the Meorah at the hotel? And does my mother need to light the Menorah at the hospital, or is it enough that my Dad lights at home?

The answer:

For you:
you can either light at your hotel or appoint a shaliach to light for you at home

For your mother:
If your father is lighting at home, then she does not need to light in the hospital. However, if your father is not planning to light at home, then she should light at the hospital.

The answer in detail:

A person who plans to go to a hotel for Chanukkah, should light the Chanukkah lights there. The best would be to light in your room by the window, since only when you light in your room may you light with a bracha, if that is not possible, then one should light at the entrance to the hotel facing the Reshut Harabim without reciting a bracha if the management of the hotel don't allow this and they allocate a place to light the menorah then one may light there without reciting a Bracha. in these instances it would be better to have someone light for you at your home on your behalf as we will soon explain.

However, if one is away for only a few days at the hotel, like up to four days, then one could either light at the hotel or appoint a shaliach who will light on your behalf at your home while you are away.

Sometimes one has to leave the hotel immediately after Shabbos, and there is no time to stay at the hotel to light the Chanukkah lights. In this case, one should appoint a shaliach who will light for him at home. Be’dieved, if one couldn’t appoint a shaliach, one may light when he arrives home, as long as it is before daybreak, (Alot Ha’shachar).

If, however, the hotel management allows you to stay a little longer after Motzei Shabbos, then in this instance, one may light the Chanukah lights at the hotel.

How does a shaliach light the candles on behalf of someone else?

As we mentioned, there are instances when one can appoint a shaliach to light instead of him. So, how is this done?

The shaliach should light his own lights at home and have in mind to light the Menorah of the other person with this same bracha

This is a very interesting Halacha regarding the shaliach, and it is as follows:

A shaliach can only recite a blessing if he is lighting in the presence of the person who appointed him.

If, however, the one who appointed him is not present, he may not recite the blessing. Therefore, in such a case when he recites a bracha for his own lights, he should have in mind that the lighting of the other Menorah should also be exempted with this Beracha.

It is important to note therefore, that when the shaliach lights at home and then goes to light the other menorah, he should not speak in between the lightings so there should not be a hefsek (interruption) between the bracha that he recited at home and the lighting of the other menorah.

In hospital over Chanukah .

A lady like your mother who is in the hospital over Chanukah does not need to light Chanukah lights if her husband is lighting them at home.

However, if her husband is not lighting at home, (even if he is lighting somewhere else) then she would have to light her own menorah at the hospital, since a woman can only be exempted by her husband's lighting if he is lighting the menorah in their own house.

The same would be true in the opposite scenario, if a man is in the hospital and his wife is lighting in their house.

If a woman still wants to light the Chanukah lights when she is in the hospital, even in a case where her husband is lighting at home, then she may do so as long as she lights before her husband.Then, she would be able to light with a berachah, according to Ashkenazi custom.

Wishing you a Chanukah Sameach, and a refuah sheleimoh to your mother.

Azamroh Lishmech page 80