HaNerot Halalu

Who wrote it?

No author is named. The earliest place we can find it is Tractate Soferim (a small book of rules for scribes and for prayer, from about 750), which lists it right after the blessing on lighting. The Tur (a law code from Spain, 1300s) quotes it as said after you light, and adds that Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (a leading German rabbi of the 1200s) and the Tur's own father, the Rosh (Rabbi Asher, around 1300), said it too.

The early wording was shorter

Compare the early wording with your siddur. Soferim, the Tur and Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, about 1340) all say the rescues, miracles and wonders that You did for our ancestors "through Your holy priests." None has "and for the wars" or "in those days, at this season." Those words are also in Al HaNissim (the thanks paragraph added to the Amidah on Chanukah). The Tur and Abudarham also lack the word mitzvat in "all the eight days of Chanukah," which your siddur has.

You say it while you are still lighting

The usual practice is to light the first light, then begin this paragraph and light the rest as you say it. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) calls the first light the main one. Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) adds that the basic mitzvah is done with that first light, so the paragraph, which explains the mitzvah, is not an interruption.

Is a candle really holy?

The prayer says "these lights are holy." But in Shabbat 22a, a sage hears that you may not count money by a Chanukah light and asks: "Does a Chanukah light have holiness?" The Sefat Emet (the teachings of Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the Rebbe of Ger in Poland) says every mitzvah has holiness in it, but hidden. Once Jews are forbidden to use these lights and keep them set apart for God's Name, the holiness settles on them. As a person separates the physical from the mitzvah, the hidden holiness wakes up.

ובגמרא איתא וכי נר קדושה יש בו... חל עליו הקדושה כי באמת בכל מצוה יש קדושה רק שהוא מוסתר

Why we may not use the lights

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (a Chassidic rebbe in Ukraine, who died in 1809) starts from King Chizkiyahu, who said of a war, "I will sleep, and God will fight." If a person fights by natural means but counts his effort as nothing, the miracle is not made smaller. The Hasmoneans (the priestly family who led the revolt) acted, but saw themselves as Moshe did when he said, "What are we?" A person who counts his work as something may enjoy the result. When he counts it as nothing, it is all holy, and he may not. So we may not use the lights.

אם אינו נחשב פעולתו רק בבחינת מה, אזי כולו קודש ואינו רשאי להנות

The ban is there so you keep noticing

The prayer says: do not use the lights, only look, "in order to" give thanks and praise. Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (known as the Ben Ish Chai, a leading rabbi and kabbalist) asks how the two connect. In his book Aderet Eliyahu he answers that the ban is there for the sake of the thanks. If you were allowed to use the light, you would stop noticing the miracle, as if you had lit it for your own comfort like any weekday light. Because you may not, the miracle stays on your mind more, every moment.

שאם מותר להשתמש לאורה לא היה זוכר את הנס בראיית הנרות כל רגע... מאחר שאסור לו להשתמש בה בזה יהיה זכרון הנס יותר כל רגע

The second "these lights" is about people

Rabbi Shlomo Rabinowitz of Radomsk (a Chassidic rebbe in Poland, who died in 1866) takes up a question he says Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev asked: why does "these lights" appear twice? He reads the second one as pointing back to the priests, because Mishlei says, "The lamp of Hashem is the soul of a person." Righteous people are lights too, and we may not use them, only look at them. Looking at holy people brings awe of Heaven. He ties this to the verse that the peoples of the earth will see that God's Name is called on you.

הנרות והאורות הכהנים והצדיקים קדש הם ואין לנו רשות להשתמש בהם רק לראותם לבד

Seeing is a mitzvah too

The prayer allows only one thing: to look. The Sefat Emet says that seeing a Chanukah light is a mitzvah. He quotes Tehillim, "Many will see, and be in awe, and trust in Hashem," and writes that by seeing a Chanukah light, people are strengthened to trust in God even in days of darkness. Now read "to look at them only" again.

שמצוה לראות נר חנוכה ובזה מתחזקים לבטוח בה' אפילו בימי החושך ואפילה

When exactly do I say it?

After the blessings, and after you light the first light. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) says only "after he lit." The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) says to keep lighting the other lights while you say it, as this siddur says, and adds that saying it after lighting them all is also fine. The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law from around 1900) says to finish the lighting while you say it, and adds that this is to publicize the miracle.

Do I have to say it?

The lighting does not depend on it. The Shulchan Aruch says to say it, but the Aruch HaShulchan says if you did not, the mitzvah is not held back, and he notes that the Rambam (Maimonides, who died in 1204) does not mention it at all.

Can I do homework by the menorah?

Not by its light. The Shulchan Aruch rules that you may not use the Chanukah lights, even to check coins, and even to study Torah, though it notes one opinion that allows a holy use. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice) says to set the shamash (the helper light) beside them, taller, so you use that one. The Gemara says to use another light, and gives the reason for the ban: so mitzvot are not treated with contempt. The Mishnah Berurah adds that even a Shabbat meal by their light is out.

How long are the lights off limits?

For about half an hour. The Shulchan Aruch says to put in enough oil to burn until people stop walking in the marketplace, about half an hour, and that if you put in more, you may put the light out and use its light after that time. The Mishnah Berurah says this amount of oil is still needed today. He adds that some are strict and do not use the light for as long as it burns, because someone watching may not know the difference.

What if a light goes out?

If it goes out before its time is over, you do not have to relight it. The Shulchan Aruch gives the reason: the lighting is what does the mitzvah. The Mishnah Berurah adds that once you lit it, the reminder of the miracle was made and the mitzvah is complete. The Shulchan Aruch says this holds even if it goes out on Friday before Shabbat starts. The Rema says that someone who wants to be strict and relight it should not say a blessing on it.

Do I have to say it word for word?

The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) quotes the Maharshal (Rabbi Shlomo Luria, 1500s): do not change it, add to it, or take away from it, because besides the first two words it has 36 words, matching the 36 lights lit over the eight nights. The Aruch HaShulchan says he cannot make the count come out, and the Kaf HaChaim reports that some drop a word to fix it. The version in this siddur is longer: it has 48 words after the first two.

Does the family stand for it?

The Ben Ish Chai (a Sephardic guide to daily law by Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, 1898) writes that you say HaNerot Halalu after lighting the first light, and that the wife and children of the one lighting should stand during the blessings and while all the lights are being lit. In this siddur HaNerot Halalu is said while the rest are lit, so that time includes it.