cellio | daf bit: Chanukah

(Today's daf is Yevamot 75. In honor of the season, and because I'm finding this part of Yevamot difficult, we turn to the talmudic discussion of Chanukah.)

We learned elsewhere: if a spark flies from an anvil and starts a fire the blacksmith is liable, and if a camel laden with flax overturns its load into a shop and starts a fire the camel-driver is liable, but if the shopkeeper placed a lamp outside the shopkeeper is instead liable. However, with Chanukah lights, which are to be placed outside, the shopkeeper is not liable. This is used to prove that the Chanukah lights must be placed within reach of the ground, because otherwise we would say to the shopkeeper: why did you not place the lamp higher so that passing traffic could not upset it? And why do we not call on him to place it higher? Because we do not want to make the mitzvah difficult to perform, lest he refrain because it's too much trouble. (Shabbat 21b)

(Separately we learn that there is a height limit because if it's too high it fails the primary duty to publicize the miracle -- if people on the street can't see it because they would have to look up too high, it doesn't do that job. In case you're wondering what people who live in upper-story apartments do, the rabbis are practical: if you can't publicize the miracle to the people on the street, at least publicize it to the members of your household and that fulfills the obligation.