Sometimes it happens that there is some important question, but you don’t know who to ask it to get the right answer. In this section, we offer you the answers of competent rabbis from rabbi.ru projects, which are devoted to how to properly light Shabbat candles.



1. Dear rabbis, please tell me whether the commandment to light Shabbat candles is written in the Torah or is it a tradition. Thank you. - Lighting candles on the eve of Saturdays and holidays is not a commandment of the Torah, but a decree of the sages. The purpose of which is to create an atmosphere of peace and tranquility in the house. On Saturdays and holidays it is forbidden to light a fire. Burning candles will help you not to walk in the dark (with all the ensuing inconveniences). Besides, what could be more cozy and romantic than candlelit meals? — Lighting candles when the Sabbath has already begun is a violation of the Sabbath. After sunset, it is no longer possible to light candles. 3. Are burning candles muktse? - Burning candles on Shabbat cannot be transferred under any circumstances. 4. How many Shabbat candles should a woman who is unmarried and has no children and does not currently have a friend light? -1 candle -If you light it yourself, then you need to light 2, but if someone else lights with you, then one. “In order to better fulfill this commandment, it is advisable to light as many candles as possible. But, in any case, they should not be less than two. Two candles symbolize the two aspects of the Sabbath commandment - the fulfillment of all the Torah's instructions about it and all the prohibitions associated with it. The Torah expresses these two aspects in two different words in the first exposition of the Ten Commandments in the book of Shemot and in its repetition in the book of Deuteronomy: “Remember the Sabbath day to make it holy” (Exodus 20:8), “Keep the Sabbath day to make it holy” (Devarim 5:12). In addition, according to Kabbalah, these two aspects of the Sabbath commandment indicate the basis of the family - the married couple: the "remember" covenant represents the husband, and the "keep" covenant represents the wife. (Kitzur Shulkhan Orukh. Chapter 76.2) 5. How many candles should a married woman light before the Sabbath? -According to the law, a married woman lights two candles before the Sabbath: one in honor of the commandment "Remember the Sabbath day" and one in honor of the commandment "Take care of the Sabbath day." There are various customs of women lighting additional candles, the main thing is that the number of candles does not decrease. One of the common customs is to add candles in excess of the two required by the number of children in the house. 6. When should candles be lit on the Sabbath? Is the exact time important for this, or can it be determined approximately? - Now there is no problem with the definition of time. There are calendars that cover almost all the cities of the CIS. Of course, you can light candles ahead of time, it is important that they burn out before the meal. But there is a danger of igniting them afterwards. It is strictly forbidden to light candles 18 minutes after the specified time. [if this has already happened (you did not have time to light the candles before the expiration of 18 minutes after the specified time), then before the time of the STAR OUT you can ask a non-Jew to light them for you, and you can say a blessing] 7. When Shabbat begins: from the moment the candles are lit or at the time of the minyan in the synagogue (the only minyan in the city)? At what distance does the time of the minyan not work, if at all? -Shabes begins (at the latest) at sunset, however, you can take it with the lighting of candles (18 minutes before sunset, and in Jerusalem 40), or you can take it 72 minutes before sunset (plug mincha). But if the minyan gathered earlier and accepted the shabes, and there will be no other, then for the inhabitants of the whole city, the shabes begins from the moment when this minyan said “Borhu”. But this is on condition that this minyan actually took over the Shabes. and intends to keep it 8. Why is it supposed to light Shabbat candles exactly 18 minutes before sunset? Who and when decided so? So it was said right away “in 18 minutes” or was the time measured somehow differently? - There is an obligation to add from the "everyday". Including from the time of weekdays - to Saturday. In principle, a few minutes are enough. But each community can set a specific time to its taste. The relevant literature recommends half and a third of an hour. And 18 minutes is indeed, you guessed it, another measure of time - "the time it takes to walk miles (about a kilometer)" - very common in halachic literature. It was she who received the most wide distribution. 9. If a woman came home on Friday before sunset, but after the set time for lighting candles, what should she do? If someone else, another woman or a husband, lit candles for her in time, then at what moment does Sabbath come for her (and, accordingly, Sabbath prohibitions apply)? - If a woman is sure that the sun has not yet set (and that most of the Jews of this city have not yet adopted the Sabbath), she should light the candles herself, mentally promising herself to try never to be late again. Saturday, for a woman who has not lit a candle, comes at the moment when she mentally accepts it (best of all), or at the moment she is accepted by the majority of the inhabitants of this city (if she has not accepted Saturday before herself) or at the moment of astronomical sunset (if most townspeople do not accept the Sabbath until then). 10. Why is it said that a woman who forgets to light Sabbath or holiday candles once, should then light one more candle all her life? Of course, in life there are situations when one oversight turns into an indelible shame, but why is this necessary in this case? “It's just a custom. Therefore, if it is difficult or not convenient for you to light an additional candle, this is not necessary (although if the essence of the inconvenience is that this will cause an unpleasant surprise, you can light an additional candle in another room). To justify such a measure, I can only assume that it, for a religious woman, is very effective. 11. My husband is Jewish, and to a greater extent for him than for myself, I would like to observe Jewish traditions in the house, for example, lighting candles. How to properly light candles on Saturday, do they need to be extinguished after some time or should they burn out themselves, what size, color and shape should the candle be or does it not matter? Thanks in advance for your reply. “If I understand correctly, are you a non-Jew?” In this case, it makes no sense for you to light Shabbat candles or observe any other Jewish traditions. But if you are interested, Shabbat candles are lit 18 minutes before sunset in the evening from Friday to Saturday. After that, the Jews are already forbidden, among other things, any manipulations with fire, including, of course, extinguishing. It is desirable that the candles be of such a size that they burn until the end of the Shabbat meal, which is still preceded by a fairly long prayer. In short, at least a candle for 3-4 hours. 13. Tell me, is it possible to extinguish a match when lighting Shabbat candles, if the blessing for lighting the candles has not yet been pronounced? Yes, that's exactly what you need to do. The exception is when yom-tov falls on the eve of Shabbat. 14. I light 6 candles on Shabbat - 2 for myself and 4 for my sons, but can I light for my granddaughter? Thank you very much for the replies. - You can, which, of course, will not free the granddaughter herself from this commandment. 15. Should the candles be lit starting from “18 minutes before the calendar time” BEFORE the “calendar time” OR From the “calendar time” TO “eighteen minutes after the calendar time”? I tried to find out from many people, and everyone said: light it exactly at the indicated time. But this is not always possible. I remember that I taught a few years ago that there is this very gap of eighteen minutes, but I forgot whether it was “before” or “after”. For now, just in case, I light “before”, but I would like to know how it really is. - You are doing the right thing, because "after" there is a danger of staying until sunset, which threatens to violate Shabbat. There are also restrictions on ignition “before”, but about twenty minutes before the usual time, you can always ignite without problems.