Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein said that a soldier asked him whether he could take oil for Chanukah lighting from his tank’s engine if nothing else were available or whether this would be considered stealing army property.
“No doubt you can do it,” Rav Zilberstein responded. “Why? Because one is taking enough for one candle and needs no more than that, which is worth a few cents. And the army wants you to have the power and privilege of a Chanukah candle, which is surely acceptable for them.”
Rav Zilberstein added that he once asked his father-in-law, Rav Elyashiv, whether soldiers spending the night in a tank, eating and sleeping there, could light Chanukah candles at the tank’s entrance. Rav Elyashiv said this was impossible because a tank does not have the status of a home.
Instead, the soldier should rely on his wife or a shaliach lighting for him at his home. Asked about evacuated families lighting in hotels, former chief rabbi Rav Shlomo Amar said it was preferable for families to light in their rooms for at least half an hour. But if this was prohibited due to the risk of fire, they should ask the management to set up several places in the dining room with room for every family’s menorah.
{Matzav.com Israel}