Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/298

1. The Laws of the Havdalah Candle, 15 Seifim: We say the blessing בורא מאורי האש over the candle if one has one. And if one does not have a candle, he need not seek one out. This applies to the end of Shabbat. But at the end of Yom Kippur there are those who say that one must seek one out. RAMA: Regarding one who has no cup to make Havdalah, when he sees the light he blesses on it and the spices (Tur).

2. The optimum manner of fulfilling the mitzvah is to recite the blessing over a torch. There is one who says that if one does not have a torch, one must light a candle (set aside) for the purpose of Havdalah, separate from the specific candle which lights the house. RAMA: A candle which has two wicks is called a torch. (Agudah)

3. It is our custom to look at the palm of one's hands and one's nails. RAMA: There are those who look at the nails of the right hand and grasp the cup in the left hand. One should bend the fingers into the hand so as to see the nails with the palms at the same time. And one will not see the inside of his fingers (Zohar, Bresheet and Va'Yakhel).

4. (Even though one can see the light), he should not recite a blessing over it unless he is close enough to it so that he can derive benefit from it to the degree that he could use its light to differentiate between the coins of one country and the coins of another country.

5. This blessing should not be recited over a flame that did not rest on Shabbos from work associated with a transgression. A light that was lit for a woman after childbirth or someone who is ill, such that the light was not associated with a transgression, one may recite the blessing over it. Even if a non-Jew kindled [a flame] for his own sake, since kindling the flame would have involved a transgression were it to have be kindled by a Jew, [the act] is considered an activity involving a transgression. And we do not make a blessing over light used in idolatry (Tur).

6. A non-Jew who lights on Motzei Shabbat from a Jew, or a Jew from a non-Jew, we may make a blessing over it. However, a non-Jew who lights from a non-Jew - we may not make a blessing over it. And on Motzei Yom Kippur, we do not make a blessing over a candle that a Jew lit from a non-Jew. (And see below Siman 625 Seif 5).

7. [The following laws apply when a person] was walking outside a large city [on Saturday night] and saw a flame. If most of the inhabitants of the city are non-Jews, he may not recite a blessing over it. If the majority of the inhabitants are Jewish, or even if the ratio is half and half, he may recite a blessing over it.

8. When a flame is produced from wood or stones on Saturday night, a blessing may be recited on it. However, on Motzei Yom Kippur this is not allowed.

9. When coals are flaming to the extent that if one would put a sliver of wood between them, it would catch fire, a blessing may be recited over [the coals], as long as they were kindled with the intent of providing light.

10. A blessing may not be recited over the light of a furnace used in the initial stage of the process of firing bricks because then it is not kindled to provide light. After [the bricks] have been fired, it is then used to illuminate and a blessing may be recited over it.

11. In the Talmudic era, a blessing would sometimes be recited over the lamp kindled in a synagogue. For example, if an important person would lodge as a guest in the synagogue, the lamp would be kindled to provide light for him [specifically], and one may make a blessing over it. And if there is not an important person present, it is not allowed. Some say the opposite. If there is a shamash that eats there, we may make a blessing (over that light) if the moon does not provide [sufficient] light for him there.

12. A blessing may not be recited on a lamp kindled for the sake of a person who passed away, for it is not lit for the purpose of lighting the path of the deceased. Thus, the lamp that is carried before his [bier] on Saturday night was not kindled solely to provide light, since such a lamp would also have been carried before his [bier] during the day.

13. A blind person may not recite the blessing (over the candle on Saturday night).

14. If [a group of] people lingered [in their studies] in the study hall (on Saturday night) and a flame was brought to them, one person should make the blessing for them all.

15. If a lamp was hidden in one’s bosom or in a P'nas [a vessel in which one puts a candle so it does not extinguish, like a lantern] or in an ispaklaria (a kind of mirror) and one can see the flame and does not use the light - If one uses the light and cannot see the flame one may not make a blessing over it until he sees the flame and makes use of the light.