Berakhot 144

1:
This mishnah continues the discussion concerning the accoutrements for the Havdalah ceremony, and may be divided into two sections, Reisha [first section] and Seifa [last section]. We turn our attention first to the Reisha.

2:
One of the items used in the Havdalah ceremony is spices (or perfume). Our mishnah states that spices that derive in any way from pagan people may not be used for the Havdalah ceremony. The Gemara [Berakhot 52b] states that the reason is because it is almost certain that the spices had been used in some pagan ritual or other. Rambam, in his Mishnah Commentary adds a further explanation. The Torah prohibits the use by Jews of anything that has been used in a pagan ritual. The prohibition, according to Rambam, is to be found in Deuteronomy 13:18. This is a passage that requires the complete annihilation of a township whose Jewish population had surrendered en mass to paganism. All the wealth of the town must be concentrated and burned: it is Ĥerem [dedicated to destruction]. The Torah explains that this is so that "nothing shall stay in your possession that is Ĥerem".

3:
The Tosefta [Tractate Sanhedrin, 14:1] states that "there never was and there never will be such a township. So why was it included in the Torah? – to derive [further] laws from it…" The law mentioned in our mishnah is an example.

4:
Another item used in the Havdalah ceremony is a candle with more than one wick. If such a candle belongs to pagans it may not be used for this ceremony since in all probability it had been used (even for non-ritual purposes) during Shabbat, and the candle used for Havdalah must be a candle that had not burned at all during Shabbat [ner she-shavat].

5:
In rabbinic times, it seems, that non-Jews lit candles in honour of their deceased. Furthermore, they would surround the corpse with spices in order to mitigate the smell of putrefaction emanating from it. (The non-Jews did not hasten to bury their dead as do the Jews.)

6:
We may now turn to the Seifa [last section] of our mishnah. In the Gemara [Berakhot 53b] the Babylonian Amora, Rav Yehudah, elaborates: "using its light" means that even someone who is not right next to the candle should be able to derive benefit from its light. If the light given off by the candle does not afford such illumination it may not be used for Havdalah. This is the origin of the custom of "using" the light from the Havdalah candle immediately after reciting the berakhah over it: we usually turn off all other lights so that we will be certain that the only light emanates from the Havdalah candle; we then bend our fingers towards the palms of our hands in order that the light from the candle may cast a shadow on them. In this way we can be certain that "we can use its light".