Great Laws (Hilkhata gavrata)

Section 28

R. Ahai Ga’on also wrote: If someone needs to purchase a lamp and wine for kiddush on the Sabbath and can afford only one of them, which one is preferable? Perhaps the kiddush of the day is preferable, since it is a biblical obligation, as it is written: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:7), and the master said: Remember it over wine, when it begins [b. Pesaḥim 106a], whereas the lamp is merely in honor of the holy day. Or perhaps the lamp is preferable, since if there is no lamp, one would be unable to eat and drink, which would make his Sabbath experience that much poorer, and there would not be peace in his home. Come and hear the Gemara, as Rava said:

It is obvious to me that if one must choose between a lamp for his home and a Hanukkah lamp, the lamp for his home takes precedence, due to the peace in his home. Rava then inquired: A Hanukkah lamp or wine for kiddush of the Sabbath day, which is preferable? After he raised this inquiry, he subsequently resolved it, that the Hanukkah lamp takes precedence, due to publicity of the miracle. [b. Shabbat 23b]

The Nagid wrote as follows: I know rabbis who cite this baraita:

If one must decide between the honor of the day and the honor of the night, the honor of the day takes precedence over the honor of the night. [b. Pesaḥim 105a]

The Gemara does not explicitly clarify the concepts of “the honor of the day” and “the honor of the night,” but now that R. Ahai Ga’on has explained that a lamp is lit merely in honor of the holy day, it can be said that “the honor of the night” includes a lamp for the night of Sabbath, and it can then be inferred that “the honor of the day” includes the delight of the Sabbath¹ and the like. You can reach the same conclusion from the fact that it is stated that if one has only one cup of wine, then the kiddush of the day takes precedence over the honor of the day.