The Talmud (Shabbat 21b) records that the basic obligation to light Hanukkah candles is to light one candle each night. The Talmud adds that a better approach is to light per the number of people in the house, and that an even better approach is to change the number of candles each night. Within this third possibility, there is an argument between Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel and we follow Bet Hillel to start with one candle and to add a candle each night.
R. Zevin (1956, p. 165) notes that this double possibility of doing more than the basic requirement is unique in Jewish law. For example, we do not have that a law that a person can read six chapters of Megillat Esther, and better to read eight chapters and even better to read ten chapters. Why did Chazal institute a three level possibility of fulfilling the law of lighting candles on Hanukkah? Maybe Chazal was concerned how much money it would cost people to light Hanukkah candles. Accordingly, they set the minimum amount was just one light/ candle, and then if people had more money, then they could light more lights/ candles.
There is an interesting argument amongst the medieval commentators as to the relationship between the three approaches mentioned in the Talmud. The Rambam (Laws of Hanukkah 4:2) understands that the third approach builds upon the second approach, and hence the preferred method of lighting candles is to light based on the number of people in the house times the number of nights. This would seem to be the simple reading of the Talmud.
However, Tosafot (Ve-Hamehadrin on the Talmud) quotes the Ri that the Rambam’s opinion is confusing since a person looking at the candles will not know which day of Hanukkah it is from the number of candles. For example, a family of four on the fourth night lights 16 candles according to the Rambam, but a person looking at the candles, might think that it was the second night of Hanukkah and there were eight people in the family, or that it was the eighth night of Hanukkah and there were two people in the family. Thus, the Ri maintained that a family should light just based on the number of nights and not based on the number of people in the house. Maybe according to the Rambam it was not important if people outside could figure out the number of nights from the candles as long as the people who did the lighting knew what was correct night.
According to the Ri, there is no connection between the second and third approaches in the Talmud. The third approach builds upon the basic obligation of one candle, and apparently it is preferred to add more lights based on the number of nights (the third approach) than based on the number of people in the house (the second approach).
Which is the accepted opinion? The Rambam (12th century, Laws of Hanukkah 4:3) notes that his opinion is not the accepted opinion since the practice amongst Sefardim was to light just based on the number of nights and not family members. The Maggid Mishnah (14th century, Spain) in his comments on the Rambam, writes that this was the custom in his time as well. The Tur (1275-1340, Orah Chayyim, 671) writes that one lights according to the number of nights as argued by the Ri, and that even if there are many people in the house one should not light more candles. The Bet Yosef (1488-1575) in his comments on the Tur writes that the practice is to light according to the number of nights, and he quotes this opinion in the Shulchan Arukh (671:2).
We see that in the Middle Ages, amongst Sefardim the accepted opinion was the Ri’s and not the Rambam’s, and this has remained until today. (The Taz notes that this is unusual, though not unique, see Zevin, 1956, p. 166 footnote 15.) Furthermore, the fact that the Tur, who was well aware of Ashkenazi practice, did not mention that Ashkenazim lit according to the number of people and nights, implies that in the Middle Ages the Ashkenazim also accepted the Ri’s opinion.
Ashkenazi practice changed apparently around the time of the Rama (16th century, Poland, 671:2) who wrote that the common practice amongst Ashkenazim was for everybody in the house to light and this was in addition to lighting extra candles each night. Why did Ashkenazim change their custom? Maybe it was due to Ashkenazim lighting the Hanukkah candles inside. The Rama in his comments on the Tur, the Darkei Moshe, quotes, maybe the Maharal of Prague (1520-1609), that since people light indoors they can light more candles than the number of nights for two reasons. One, within the house everybody knows the number of people so they can determine which night of Hanukkah is by looking at the candles, and two when lighting in the house everybody can light in a different area. The Rama in his comments on the Shulchan Arukh quotes this second rationale, but my own experience is that families light in the same place even when lighting inside. Another possible reason for the change in the custom is maybe the Rama felt that Ashkenazi Jewry was sufficiently wealthy and/ or that the price of candles had decreased which could allow people to light more candles. Also, by lighting candles on Friday night, the Rama (Orah Chayyim 263:1) added the number of candles to be lit, which could be for the same reason.
In the printed Shulchan Arukh, by the Rama’s ruling, in parenthesis it is written that the Rama is following the Rambam, but, as noted by the Arukh Hashulchan (19th century, 671:9,15), this is not true. According to the Rambam, the number of people includes the wife, but I think the common practice among Ashkenazim was/is (?) that the wife does not light (see Mishnah Berurah 671:9), though I know families where the wide does light separately. In addition, while the Rama follows the Rambam with regard to the number of candles or lights to be put on the Hanukiyah, according to the Rambam only the head of household lit all the candles, while according to the Rama, each person in the family lights. (The Arukh Hashulchan even quotes an opinion that it is a bracha le-vatalah when more than one person in a household lights and says a blessing.)
Accordingly, the common Ashkenazi practice today of having many people light in one house, which follows the Rama, is a variation on the Rambam’s opinion. From the perspective of the family, the family is basically following the Rambam’s opinion since in total the number of candles lit in the house approximately equals the number of people times the number of nights (not counting the wife, if she does not light). However, from the individual perspective, the person is following the Ri’s opinion to light one more candle for each night, though according to the Ri only one person in the family should light.
To summarize, if a person lives by him or herself, and adds one candle per night, then he/ she is fulfilling both the Rambam’s and the Ri’s opinion. With regard to a couple, if only one person lights and adds one candle each night, then they are following the Ri and not the Rambam since according to the Rambam they need to light two times the number of nights. With regard to a family of four, where the husband and children light, then they are following neither the Rambam (who said that one person should light 16 candles) nor the Ri (who said that one person should light four candles), and they should light in different areas. If they light in the same place, then they are relying on the Maharal’s logic, that the people in the house who know how many people lit candles will know what day of Hanukkah it is.
Bibliography:
Zevin, Shlomo Yosef (1890-1978), 1944, first edition, 1956, seventh edition, Ha-Mo'adim ba- Halakhah, Jerusalem.
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