The glass holders used in Shabbos Leichters

You know the sort of thing I’m talking about. I reproduce it below. Many use these because it saves cleaning the wax from the Silver Leichter (candelabrum). Last week, my mother was in the kitchen reading and she heard a pop like an explosion. She was alone. Entering the dining room, she noticed nothing untoward. She returned to the kitchen to read, and then heard another pop which was like an explosion and discovered that her table and curtains were being burned by flames after one of these glasses had exploded. After questioning some who sell these items, we discovered that this is common although Baruch Hashem it hasn’t happened to us. This is a real concern and involved a danger to life, סכנת נפשות ממש. I surmise that it’s not glass per se that is the problem, but rather some manufacturers are sourcing cheaper glass from third world countries and may be oblivious to the extreme danger that these potentiate. I mentioned it to my Mechutan who told me that he used them on Succos for obvious reasons and never goes to bed until they have extinguished. I’d like to raise a real awareness about this issue. This community does NOT need a tragedy to occur before we become wise to such a danger. It behoves those who sell these items to investigate the relative safety of otherwise of the glass, and ensure that no cheap glass is used in the context. If you’ve had, or know of any such occurrences, please advise the various re-sellers. I’d rather see those that haven’t passed a rigorous set of testing removed from the market as a matter of ISSUR as this seems to be a clear cut case of LIFNEI IVER MIDEORAYSO. On the other hand, if you know of a brand that has been tested to International standards and is reliable, please recommend these to us all לטובת הכלל.

Author: pitputim

I've enjoyed being a computer science professor in Melbourne, Australia, as well as band leader/singer for the Schnapps Band. My high schooling was in Chabad and I continued at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel and later in life at Machon L'Hora'ah, Yeshivas Halichos Olam. View all posts by pitputim