Dear Rabbi.
When lighting yom tov candles, are women required to wave their hands three times, like on Shabbos, before covering their eyes and making the bracha?
Answer:
Waving the hands before covering the eyes is not a requirement but rather a custom. It seems to be based on the original custom of covering the candles as opposed to covering the eyes. Either way this minahg would apply equally to Shabbos and Yom Tov.
I suppose that here the answer is based very much on the way the question was asked (which has an assumption that the woman lights first and then makes the bracha).
Would it not also be correct to say that if a woman were to change the order on Yom Tov and make the bracha and then light — which is permitted on Yom Tov but not on Shabbos — then the hand-waving/candle-covering/eye-covering wouldn’t be required at all?
Yes, one who lights after the bracha on yom tov would not perform this custom, which is based on enjoying the lights immediately after the bracha. When one lights after the bracha there is no need to cover the light or eyes, to obtain this result.
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