פירוש על שבת 2:1

במה מדליקין – the Shabbat candle – from what does not make the wicks and oils to kindle [them].

Introduction This chapter deals with candle lighting on Friday eve before Shabbat. Candle lighting is part of the joy that we are commanded to experience on Shabbat. Today, with electric lights in abundance we no longer appreciate the function of a simple candle on Friday eve. In the time of the Mishnah, on most nights people would have gone to sleep at nightfall. It was just too expensive to use up oil for light on normal occasions. On Friday night they lit candles, stayed up late, ate a festive meal and studied Torah. Most of the chapter deals with the technical details of lighting wicks, oils, lamps, etc.

לא בלכש – a kind of wool that is in cedar, whether he scraped the tree and it is called the wooly substance of cedar twigs [used for wicks].

With what may they kindle [the Shabbat light] and with what may they not kindle them?
They may not kindle with cedar fiber, uncarded flax, a raw silk, a desert wick, or seaweed, The list in this section is of material which may not be used for wicks in lighting the Sabbath candles. The reason that we do not light with these types of wicks is that they don’t absorb the oil well, and someone might tilt the lamp on Shabbat to try to get more oil on the wick. Such tilting is prohibited because it is like lighting a fire. Also, since they are not good wicks they might go out, forcing the family to sit in the dark.

בחוסן – flax which is not beaten.

And not with pitch, wax, castor oil, [terumah] oil [which must be] burnt, tail fat, or tallow. Nahum the Mede says: they may kindle with melted tallow. And the sages say: whether melted or not, they may not kindle with it. The same reason that the above-mentioned wicks were prohibited is why most of these types of oil are also prohibited. The exception is terumah oil which must be burned. This refers to terumah oil which has been made impure and therefore has to be burned. It is prohibited to burn unclean sacrifices or terumah on Shabbat and on holidays. The final debate is on whether all types of tallow are prohibited or just tallow that has not been melted.

בכלך – the refuse of silk.

בפתילת האידן – a kind of wool that is [in the willow-branch] between the peeling/husk and the wood.

בפתילת המדבר – the leaves of long grass that grow them and kindle them.

בירוקה שעל פני המים – a kind of wool that grows on the walls of the ship when it is delayed a long time in the water. Until here are the wicks that are forbidden; from here onwards are the oils that are forbidden.

לא בזפת ולא בשעוה – he should not give melted pitch or smelted wax in a candle in the place of oil and kindle it but to a sort of long wick which is made from wax is permitted.

ולא בשמן קיק – oil that comes out from seeds that are within the wool of the vine which is called “cotton.” And there are those who explain (Tractate Shabbat 21a) the oil of Jonah’s Ricinus tree (Kikayon), and it is a grass whose leaves are large and is called in Arabic “Kru’ah” and the oil that comes out from it is the thickest. And those wicks which the Sages stated that we don’t kindle with them, what is the reason? Because the flame nibbles at them (producing sputtering sparks), that is to say - that the flame does not enter into the wick [other than] from around it from the outside. And those wicks that the Sages we should not kindle with them because they are not drawn after the wick and because the candle is not kindled properly lest he tilt the oil onto the candle in which he would be found to be starting a fire. Alternatively, he should not set the candle down and leave. But we hold that the Shabbat candle is obligatory.

ולא בשמן שריפה – oil of Terumah/priest’s due that became defiled. And why do we call it defiled heave-offering deemed to be burned? For since it stands to be burned and is prohibited to be consumed. And we are dealing with a Jewish holy day that occurs on a Friday, for we kindle the candle while it is still daylight, we find that it burns impure oil from Terumah on the Jewish holy day and we hold that we may not kindle holy things on the Jewish holy day, as it is written (Exodus 12:10): “And any of it that is left until morning you shall burn in the fire.” And we explain this Biblical verse as such: And that which is left from it until the first morning until the second morning, stand and burn it for we don’t burn that which is left over on the Jewish holy days. And the same law applies for all other Holy things that require burning.

וחכמים אומרים אחד מבושל ואחד שאינו מבושל אין מדליקין בו – and the first teacher [of the Mishnah] also said and no it tallow – which implies all tallow/fat. But there is a dispute between the Sages and the first teacher [of the Mishnah] as one of them thought that it is permitted to kindle with cooked fat that is mixed with oil and the other forbids it even through a mixture with oil. But it is not clear to the Sages in the Talmud which of the two prohibits and which is the one that permits it, but the Halakha is according to the Sages.