Shabbat 22: Placing, Lighting, and Transferring the Light of the Chanukiah

The rabbis discuss whether or not the light of the chanukah candles is sacred.  If it sacred, then it cannot be used to light anything else.  No mitzvah should be contemptible to us; this is why we cover blood from slaughtered animals with our hands and not our feet.  In the same way, lighting candles is a mitzvah, which is undertaking a sacred act, and the light has become sacred.  With more deliberation, we learn l that we are only permitted to use the chanukah candle to light another light if there is no non-sacred lamp available for that task.  We do not want to weaken the mitzvah.

The rabbis discuss whether the chanukiah can be held in the air or whether it must be secured.  They decide that placing the chanukiah is required to fulfill the lighting mitzvah.  The rabbis determine that it should be placed where it can be seen by the public, which is still observed today.  

There is some debate about lighting and placing the chanukiah.  Can one light the chanukiah inside and then place it at the doorway of the home?  Must the chanukiah be placed when it is lit in an appropriate place.  The rabbis are worried that one might light inside and say to oneself that one is lighting the lamp for their own needs rather than in fulfillment of the mitzvah.