Lighting Shabbos Candles When Impractical
שאלה
If a woman is not yet shomer shabbos and works at a job that prohibits her from lighting shabbos candles there properly and she can’t leave early to light, is there a way she can light on the electric lights there? How would this work? What advice can you give for this, especially seeing as she wants to grow in her Judaism and would like to light but it's not possible for her to do so at work and quitting her job is not an option right now.
תשובה
There are two components to this question:
1. Should a woman who works on Shabbos be encouraged to light candles at work?
2. May one light an electric lamp instead of candles.
With respect to the first question, one might say that it is making a mockery of Shabbos candles to light them at work. However, I asked מו"ר Rav Chaim Sholom Deitch שליט"א, and he said that she should be encouraged to light no matter where or what (provided, of course, that she lights before Shabbos starts), as מצוה גוררת מצוה and perhaps the candles will cause her to realize that she shouldn't be working on Shabbos.
With respect to the second question, in a situation where one cannot light candles, one may light using incandescent bulbs, as they have a halachic status of fire.
It is important to note that in order to make a bracha, she must derive benefit from the light. Therefore, she must either 1) turn off all the lights in the room and turn them on when lighting, or 2) eat near the candles (or in this case, bulbs). You can encourage her to make kiddush and eat something near the lamps.|
P.S. See this Sicha:
