If One Travels on Chanukah to a Place Without a Jewish Community

Generally speaking, if a person travels on Chanukah, and his wife remains home, then the wife lights the Chanukah candles at home and the husband fulfills his obligation of Chanukah candles through her lighting. He does not have to light in the place he is visiting. However, the Shulchan Aruch makes an exception in the case of one who travels to a remote location where there are no Jews. A common contemporary example would be a Jew who travels to the Far East on business during Chanukah, and he thus finds himself in a place where no one is lighting Chanukah candles. In such a case, the Shulchan Aruch writes, one should light Chanukah candles, with the Brachot. A traveler fulfills his obligation with his wife’s lighting back home only if he is in a place where there are Jews lighting Chanukah candles and he thus sees the candles and participates in the Pirsumeh Nisa (publicizing of the miracle). If, however, he is in a place without any Jews, he must light his own candles, even though his wife is lighting at home, and he recites the Brachot over the lighting. Preferably, in order to satisfy all opinions, a person in such a situation should specifically have in mind not to be covered by his wife’s lighting back home, so that he can recite the Brachot according to all views. This is the ruling of Chacham Ovadia Yosef, as recorded in Yalkut Yosef (p. 169). 

By Rabbi Eli Mansour