Shabbat Candles

Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism. It is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat recalls the Biblical Creation account in Genesis, describing God creating the Heavens and the Earth in six days and resting on the seventh. It is the only ritual observance instituted in the Ten Commandments: the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai when God commanded the Israelite nation to observe the seventh day and keep it holy.

Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism. It is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat recalls the Biblical Creation account in Genesis, describing God creating the Heavens and the Earth in six days and resting on the seventh. It is the only ritual observance instituted in the Ten Commandments: the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai when God commanded the Israelite nation to observe the seventh day and keep it holy.

” זָכוֹר אֶת-יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת, לְקַדְּשׁוֹ”

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”( Exodus 20:7)

Lighting Shabbat candles is a rabbinically mandated law in Judaism. Shabbat candles are lit by the woman of the house no later than eighteen minutes before Shabbat begins.

According to Jewish tradition, there is at least two candles lit, one reminds us to remember the Shabbat and the second reminds us to honor the Shabbat, the two versions of the fourth commandment.

After lighting, she waves her hands over the candles, welcoming the Shabbat. Then she covers her eyes, so as not to see the candles before reciting the following blessing:

ברוך אתה ײ אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו להדליק נר של שבת

“Blessed are you, Lord, our God, king of the universe who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light the candles of Shabbat”

The hands are then removed from the eyes, and the woman looks at the candles, completing the mitzvah of lighting the candles.

Read more;

https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/110394/jewish/How.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_candles