On the commandment to light candles
According to Jewish tradition, each Friday evening before sunset the woman of the home (or the man if there is no woman present), lights the Shabbat candles: one candle for an unmarried woman and two for a married woman.
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The candles are generally placed on or close to the Shabbat table. One of the primarily reasons for this is to illuminate the home so that those who dwell within it can see.
The woman recites the blessing “barukh atah adonai eloheiny melekh haolam asher kid shanu be mitzvotav ve tzivanu lehadlik ner shel Shabbat”, which means
“Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light the Shabbat candles.”
Just as G-d stopped creating the universe on the seventh day, we too refrain from creating on the seventh day of the week.
G-d commanded us to observe the Shabbat day: this is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. However, it appears differently in the two books of the Torah that contain the Ten Commandments:
Exodus and Deuteronomy.
Here are both versions:
זָכוֹר אֶת-יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ
Exodus 20:8
שָׁמוֹר אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ
Deuteronomy 5 :12
The first version of this commandment tells us to:
“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”, yet the second version tells us to: “Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO RECITE PERSONAL PRAYERS:
The lighting of the Shabbat candles is a propitious moment to speak to G-d and to address Him with personal prayers that express our hearts’ desires.
This is the reason that so many women have taken on the custom of reciting a “yehi ratzon” to ask G-d for good things. Here is a translation of the text in English:
May it be Your will, Lord my God and God of my fathers, to be gracious to me (and to my spouse, children, parents) and to all my family; grant us and all Israel good and long life; remember us for good and blessing; consider us for salvation and compassion; bless us with great blessings; make our household complete, crowning our home with the feeling of Your Divine Presence dwelling among us.
Make me worthy to raise learned children and grandchildren, who are wise and understanding, who love and fear God, people of truth, holy and attached to God, who will dazzle the world with Torah and goodness and service of God. Please hear our prayers, in the merit of our matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and
ensure that the glow of our lives will never be dimmed.
Show us the glow of Your face and we will be saved. Amen
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