Forgot to Light Shabbos Candles?

What should a woman do if she forgot to light Shabbos candles?

The Rama, quoting the Maharil, rules that a woman who once forgot to light Shabbos candles lights an extra candle for the rest of her life, and if she forgets again, she adds another candle. The Alter Rebbe brings this as an accepted minhag and explains that the extra candle serves as a heker and a reminder, so that she will be careful with kavod Shabbos and not come to forget again.¹ Others say that the added candle corrects what was lost due to the forgotten lighting.²

If an oness prevented her, there is no knas at all. The Alter Rebbe’s example is a woman who was detained, and poskim apply it to other situations, such as illness or a clock that stopped. Being occupied with other mitzvos or a delay she could have anticipated are not oness, though genuinely unforeseeable traffic is.³

Even with electric lights, there is an obligation to light candles, and forgetting to do so is a bitul mitzvah, which would require an additional candle.⁴ Though if the electric lights were turned on lichvod Shabbos, some are lenient.⁵

More common is a woman who lit fewer candles than usual. The Pri Megadim holds that here too she must add a candle, while the Mishna Brurah disagrees, since the practice is only a minhag.⁶ In practice, if it was an accident, nothing needs to be done .⁷

An unmarried girl, or a woman staying as a guest where the hosts light for her, is not obligated me’ikar hadin,⁸ and a lifelong addition would also cause her real embarrassment. Yet, she should light an extra candle at least once.⁹ Poskim say that a man who forgets is not fined, since the knas was placed on the woman, upon whom the needs of the home rest.¹⁰

Whether the knas applies on Yom Tov is debated since it has a different timeframe.¹¹ In practice, she need not add a candle.¹²

Where an extra candle every week is difficult, poskim offer other ways to accomplish the tikun, and a rav should be consulted.¹³

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